Heroin Hurts

While the use of many street drugs is on a slight decline in the US, abuse of prescription drugs is growing. According to the NPR.org survey 19 million Americans aged 12 and older misused prescription drugs for the first time.

Among teens, prescription drugs are the most commonly used drugs next to marijuana, and almost half of the teens abusing prescriptions drugs are taking painkillers.

Why are so many young people turning to prescription drugs to get high?

By survey, almost 50% of teens believe that taking prescription drugs is much safer than using illegal street drugs.

What is not known by most of these young people is the risk they are taking by consuming these highly potent and mind-altering drugs. Long-term use of painkillers can lead to dependence, even for people who are prescribed them to relieve a medical condition but eventually fall into the trap of abuse and addiction.

In some cases, the dangers of painkillers don’t surface until it is too late. Fentanyl is found to be 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Prescription painkillers are powerful drugs that interfere with the nervous system’s transmission of the nerve signals we perceive as pain. Most painkillers also stimulate portions of the brain associated with pleasure. Thus, in addition to blocking pain, they produce a “high.”

The most powerful prescription painkillers are called opioids, which are opium-like compounds. They are manufactured to react on the nervous system in the same way as drugs derived from the opium poppy, like heroin. The most commonly abused opioid painkillers include oxycodone, hydrocodone, meperidine, hydromorphone and propoxyphene.

Oxycodone has the greatest potential for abuse and the greatest dangers. It is as powerful as heroin and affects the nervous system the same way. Oxycodone is sold under many trade names, such as Percodan, Endodan, Roxiprin, Percocet, Endocet, Roxicet and OxyContin. It comes in tablet form.

Street names for PAINKILLERS: Oxycet, Oxycotton, Hillbilly Heroin, Percs, Perks, Vikes, Hydros, Pinks, Footballs, Ns, Juice, Dillies, and Demmies are just some of them.

Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.

A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.

But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.

Drugs block of all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out the ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.

Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.

DRUGS DO NOT DISCRIMINATE – THEY CAN AND WILL AFFECT EVERYONE, not just the one using the drugs.

Source: drugfreeworld.org