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The video provided by Snag Films, Drugged: High on Heroin, was informative to say the least. With the rising prevalence of news reports related to the opioid epidemic around the country and the rising number of people dying from prescription medication every day, the introduction was relative and eye-opening. Heroin, an opioid painkiller, is largely responsible for the “1 in 10 Americans” who “suffer from substance abuse” and has damaging mentally and physical effects on the lives of people and their immediate family, but it also has a massive sociological impact. A drug that is cheaper than prescription pain pills has soared through every facet of American society, but has sunk its teeth into the heart and core of the American Dream; the middle class.
Heroin is the most addictive drug in America and the most common forms of use are by smoking or injection. The video walks us through the daily habits of Skylar, a twenty-one year old boy, who has been doing “dope” since he was eighteen years old. At the time of the filming, he was consuming a gram of heroin a day; that’s the equivalent of eighty-dollars’ worth of the poppy based drug on the street. He wakes up in the morning to smoke, and smokes three additional times throughout the day, but what is more shocking is the effect that the drug has on his body. After inhaling, the substance travels through the lungs and into the bloodstream, racing for the receptors in the brain. The heroin causes the receptors to fire rapidly, creating an “intense euphoria” . If you’ve ever taken a prescription painkiller and have experienced the effect of mild euphoria, imagine heroin as a similar effect that produces such a euphoria that the abuser can no longer feel pain and becomes instantly happy.
Besides the obvious health risks of consuming heroin, the real downside is insatiable urge to get more. Not only does not getting more heroin make the user unhappy, but it actually creates physical pain from withdrawal. It is often in these times of desperation that users commit their most outrageous acts, such as selling electronics to find money for heroin. The heroin takes over the receptors in the brain and without heroin, the user can no longer feel the sensation of happiness and starts to feel pain throughout the body. Rehabilitation is often therapeutic and coupled with medication, but the recovery from a life of heroin abuse is a tough road for the bravest and strongest of people.
Works Cited
SnagFilms. (n.d.). Drugged: High on Heroin. Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://www.snagfilms.com//films/title/drugged_high_on_heroin?utm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player_referral
