Cultural Causes of Heroin Use
There are apparently a few determining factors and cultural causes of heroin use. In retrospect, this is truly the case with most drugs. The situation is that the drug kind of finds its way into society, and if it’s good enough, the popularity of this drug can really spread like wild fire via word of mouth alone, from dealer to dealer and from dealer to client, etc. However, there are a few specific reasons, culturally caused, why somebody would pick up the needle and use. The urge to use heroin for the first time most likely falls on several reasons simultaneously, obviously some of these would be extremely personal to the individual- as every addict sort of has their own primary “motive” that drives them to want to do drugs in the first place.
However, one cultural reason that can remain sort of routine from individual to individual is how it’s glamorized in society by a long shot. You’ve seen rock stars die in tragic stories, having used and probably having made using look a bit more glamorous than it really was. You’ve seen famous actors play heroin junkies in movies, and of course movies are never as dire and severe as the reality of the situation. The only thing on television that could portray heroin use somewhat parallel to the gravity of its reality are documentaries. Yet even those don’t do it justice sometimes. It really is one of the worst drugs anyone can come across yet the movies and music, pop culture and society, don’t really make it seem quite as bad as it actually is.
This is part of the reason why especially younger people in society have softened attitudes to the prospect of heroin. It’s looked at as safe just because it isn’t as messy as meth or some of the other harder drugs. However it is probably the least safe drug of all, being one of the most addictive substances there is.
The topic of cultural causes of heroin use poses a few questions. First of all, what has shaped society to cause especially younger people to take the drug to begin with? Well, when younger kids are looking up to pop stars, rock stars and infatuated with the famous actors who play junkies in these movies then that seems to cause the drug to have some sort of glamorized and glorified appeal that it shouldn’t have. Another aspect to this is the fashion industry and the models who popularized the term “heroin chic”. Heroin chic is basically the grunge style of the ’90’s when the really skinny, almost junkie look was trendy. This actually came about because a lot of models were into heroin due to the fact that it makes and keeps weight down by a long shot. Unfortunately you can’t do heroin for very long without that skinny look appearing healthy. It usually turns into a very unhealthy look rather quickly.
Heroin Culture
The heroin culture itself makes using look not nearly as bad as it really is. However, the personal horror stories of heroin junkies reveal a sordid and terrifying side to the drug. The high is a powerful one, overrated nonetheless. This makes for a huge predicament in the face of the teenager or young adult who may have lost direction in life and is turning to substance abuse to find peace. Unfortunately drugs remain a huge problem and struggle in society, especially heroin. Even though the harm greatly outweighs the fun of this drug, people and junkies who are still hooked on it and not yet reformed may beg to differ meanwhile their lives are going up in shambles.
So when a teenager encounters this drug and is trying to decide what to make of it, it doesn’t help when one of their junkie friends is raving about the high and bloating the fascination with what the high provides. Sure, everybody knows that heroin is supposed to have a particularly potent high, and if it’s good quality heroin then that is supposed to be extremely euphoric and last for quite a long time. But in the end drugs are still drugs, heroin still heroin and the repercussions of using a narcotic are still the same.
Heroin Use, Peer Pressure and Society
In society there is no question that a lot of peer pressure seems to exist in high school and then linger well into somebody’s twenties and depending on which groups they hang around, well into their thirties as well. Peer pressure is kind of one of those never-ending situations. So when we look at a powerfully addictive drug like heroin, we wonder why even after its dangers are known that 9.2 million people are estimated to use it. Well, this has a lot to do with peer pressure. Peer pressure and word of mouth are kind of the same thing. The definition of peer pressure is influence from members of one’s peer group. This makes a lot of sense, especially when we look at society and especially when we look at the subtlety in which heroin may be portrayed to not seem that dangerous. Of course these are the movies, the models, the television, the music and the rock stars that have made brilliant music along the way having been wrapped up in this drug. This also has to do with the groups of users themselves and how they’re promoting the drug itself without warning. This obviously stems from drug dealers who continuously intend to hook people that are already prone to addiction. Having said that, the amount of bias in this type of word of mouth in regards to how great a high you can get from heroin is large. So we have a glorification in movies and pop culture of the drug but then this is only compounded by the fact that people who are claiming it’s a high worth giving up your life for are extremely bias addiction-prone individuals.
The bottom line is that pop culture can of course gloss over heavily the true grit that heroin brings to the table. Just looking at a reformed junkie’s personal horror story can give you a clear idea of what and how this drug has ruined their life. Normally this person is still picking up the pieces of a life ruined, even years after their last usage. A lot of times people who are promoting using heroin are quite literally high or out of it from the drug in general. Heroin is nonetheless a very harmful substance and can deteriorate somebody’s body. It really puts a dent on somebody’s health and can create various illnesses, etc. Though society or pop culture would like to make it seem cool or interesting for their own sake or particular motives as mentioned above, it truly is just as gritty a hard drug as any other hard drug out there.
