All around the country, there is an epidemic going on in high schools. This epidemic is related to drug use, specifically heroin. So many high schoolers are getting addicted to heroin. But why?
There is an epidemic in the United States of people using prescription drugs illegally, and getting addicted to them. This epidemic is not limited to adults. Plenty of high school students get hooked on prescription pills, such as painkillers and stimulants. Initially, they start doing the drugs to get high. But when they do the drugs enough times, they get used to the feeling.
Although they get used to the high that the prescription drugs give them, they still crave that high that they were looking for. So they go looking for harder drugs. One drug that is often way too easy to find is heroin. Cocaine and ecstasy are also easy to find, but heroin is the most accessible for many teenagers.
When people get addicted to drugs, it is common for their lives to be destroyed. Their entire world begins to revolve around getting high, and they’ll do just about anything to get the drugs they need, from stealing from loved ones to getting into prostitution. They also tend to become different people when they get high. Someone who is usually calm and quiet might become boisterous and lose their temper easily. While this might not sound so bad on paper, in reality it often manifests as becoming someone who doesn’t care about their loved ones, who yells in the faces of people they love, and who loses interest in the things that used to bring them joy.
Heroin is dangerous. It morphs people into totally different personalities than they had been. It ruins lives as people lose interest in anything but getting the drugs that will lead them to their next high. It robs people of the ability to be functioning people in society. Getting sober isn’t easy either. The person going through rehabilitation needs to be 100% committed, or it will not work. The process is long and involves serious withdrawal effects which are really difficult to go through.
One of the reasons heroin is so dangerous is because it is not a drug that you can do a few times here and there and be fine after. Addiction happens quickly, often after the first time trying it. Heroin is not a drug that can be done at parties on the weekend with no getting high during the week. It just doesn’t work that way. Some people don’t realize this, though, and think that they can do it on the weekends and be fine otherwise. It simply doesn’t work that way, and people need to know that.
If someone offers you a chance to try heroin, say no, no matter who is offering it. It may seem like fitting in is the most important thing right now, but truly, the most important thing is to set yourself up for a good future, and heroin won’t provide that.
Written by Megan Flint.
