Heroin Use in US: The Increase, Benefits and Disadvantages - Essay Sample

Introduction

It's no surprise that heroin use has increased in the United States between 2007 and 2016. In 2016, 948,000 reported that they had used heroine in the past one and this is an increase from the previous years. For example, only 90,000 reported using the drug in 2006, and this trend is worrying because of its adverse effects (NIDA, 2018). Some investigations indicate that heroin use has benefits like reducing pain, while others argue that it has many disadvantages like an addiction; hence, it should not be used. The essay discusses the benefits and side effects of heroin.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

One advantage of heroin is that it helps to reduce pain among patients. It is one of the traditional drugs used to kill the pain before its ban. Heroin belongs to the same category of opioids like painkillers (NIDA, 2018). The drug is attached to specific molecules called receptors found on the nerve cells of the brain and the spinal cord. When connected to these nerves, it reduces the pain, but only if taken in the right dosage; hence, it is beneficial in healthcare. For example, it is used in cancer patients to reduce acute pain since it is more accurate than morphine.

Its ability to reduce dependence on other drugs like painkillers is another benefit of using heroin. Research shows that most people rely on painkillers to survive and live their usual standards, but excessive use of such drugs makes the body inactive. In the process, they end up using alternative medicines that would be addictive, affecting the immune system (NIDA, 2018). Therefore, heroin was a drug prescribed during the traditional medical practice to avoid dependence on other drugs since it was highly effective in managing health issues. However, it must be used alongside an effective treatment plan so that the patients take recommended dosage failure to which can lead to adverse effects.

From an economics point of view, heroin is beneficial since it is cost-effective compared to some medical drugs used to treat various diseases. For example, controlling acute pain in cancer patients is costly, and not many afford such medicines. In the process, they opt to use heroin to supplement the drugs, and this helps to manage the condition successfully (Abadinsky, 2013). However, the most signification problem of not using the right dosage is an addiction, which is associated with anti-social behaviors in the society. Therefore, medical practitioners should prescribe the right dosage so that patients use it correctly.

On the contrary, there are disadvantages of heroin. First, effect is that it changes the physical and physiological structure of the structure and brain. Because of these changes, it creates a long-term imbalance in hormonal and neuronal systems (Abadinsky, 2013). It is difficult to change this condition; hence, affecting the long-term structural components of the victims. Studies show that long-term use of heroin leads o deterioration of the brain, demonstrating that it cannot function effectively. Health deterioration affects how individuals make decisions in their daily lives, and extreme cases, it leads to loss of memory.

Addictiveness of heroin is another disadvantage of using substance. It is one of the substances with high addictive features if not taken in the right quantities. Individuals utilizing the drug typically develop tolerance suggesting that they need daily dosages so that their bodies function effectively. The result is that users develop substance abuse disorder since they will use the drug continually, affecting their normal operations of the body (NIDA, 2018). Substance abuse disorder ranges from severe to addiction if they cannot take necessary interventions to avoid the adverse effects. Therefore, heroin is disadvantageous since it leads to addiction, and its associated side effects.

Finally, heroine disadvantageous since it causes deaths in American society. The number of overdose deaths increased by 54% between 2011 and 2016. Among the drugs abused, causing these deaths include heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone (Hedegaard & Bastian, 2018). Heroin was ranked the first one between 2012 and 2015. It causes deaths because it causes liver and kidney diseases as well as HIV transmission, especially when users share injection equipment. Therefore, heroin use is damaging society since it increases deaths and contributing to unethical behaviors.

Based on this analysis, heroin has many disadvantages, and it is increasing the number of deaths in society. Banning the drug can help to restore sanity in community since the study shows that it contributes to rising cases of unethical behaviors. However, the government should develop rehabilitation centers to change addict victims as well as subsiding drugs used to treat painkillers so that many people can afford. Therefore, it is a good decision to ban the substance since it has many disadvantages than benefits.

Conclusion

Heroin is one of the addictive drugs used in a society mostly by adolescents. Its primary benefit is that it helps to reduce and control acute pain in patients like cancer victims. However, it has many disadvantages like changing the structural system of the body, addiction, and causing deaths since it creates an enabling environment for the transmission of HIV as well as causing liver and kidney diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to ban the substance since there are alternatives medicines.

References

Abadinsky, H. (2013). Drug use and abuse: a comprehensive introduction. London: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hedegaard, H & Bastian, B. (2018). Drugs most frequently involved in drug overdose deaths: United States, 2011-2016. National vital statistics report 67(9), 1-14.

NIDA. (2018). Heroine. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/scope-heroin-use-in-united-states

NIDA. (2018). Drug facts. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin