The prescription painkiller epidemic amongst youth has taken an interesting turn, revealing that opiate pills have taken their place amongst the ranks marijuana and alcohol as a gateway drug to hard street-level substances. In fact, law enforcement and anti-drug advocates see more than ever that prescription painkillers can have a direct link to heroin addiction. Read on to learn more about the devastating effects and costly repercussions that painkillers currently have on today’s American communities.
Why Painkillers? Are They Really Addictive?
For something as apparently medicinal as prescription painkillers, there sure have been a lot of tragedies. The medical community leans on opiate drugs like OxyContin and Oxycodone to help those who suffer with severe pain. Unfortunately, such benefits do not come without a cost.
Synthetic opiate drugs (also called opioids) can be terrifyingly habit-forming and addictive. In fact, upon receiving such drugs the brain actually shuts down production of its own natural “painkillers” and begins to depend on opiate drugs to do the trick instead. This is why cessation of such drugs produces highly uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
Prescription Painkillers In Today’s Drug Court System
In some states, as much as 60% of the people in the drug court system are opiate prescription-dependent. Experts estimate that roughly half of these individuals are average people who, with conditions of chronic or acute pain, were prescribed powerful painkillers only to later become addicted. There are, of course, other cases and circumstances that bring about a pharmaceutical addiction. The vast majority of today’s opiate pill abusers, however, are people who have unwittingly become hooked on a drug intended to help them.
Sadly, accidental overdoses now account for the number one spot as a cause of death in many states across the United States—surpassing both car accidents and suicide.
Opiate Medications As Gateway Substances
When you consider today’s youth and the substance abuse issues plaguing this demographic, it is important to analyze the beginnings of a young person’s drug use. In most cases, the downward spiral of drug abuse and addiction begins with a gateway substance like marijuana, alcohol, etc. These kinds of substances are considered by the masses to be harmless or “not that bad,” yet they are consumed in increasingly higher amounts and lead to the abuse of harder drugs.
Prescription painkillers act similarly as a gateway substance. Teen heroin addicts don’t generally start out by sticking a needle in their arm—this kind of hard drug abuse is something that is built up to over time. Today’s teenage substance abuse largely begins with pills like Vicodin, Oxycontin, Percocet and Hydrocodone. Once these pills become too expensive or too hard to get, abusers are forced to turn to street-level drugs like heroin. Many will start by snorting or smoking small amounts of the drug stating that because they are not using a needle it is “not so bad.” When one’s tolerance gets to a certain level they often move to IV heroin use. Many will end up in jail, overdosing or even losing their lives without help.
The truth is that as soon as one starts using painkillers or any drug they should seek rehabilitation. Families must ensure that they enroll in a program before the addiction becomes heroin.
Because prescription painkillers can have a direct link to heroin addiction, it is extremely important that you keep your medications safely stored. Further, when you are finished with the pills be sure to properly dispose of them so they do not end up in the wrong hands.