An Insidious New Addiction

How’s this for the insidious nature of prescription opiate addiction:  Many young people (and others for that mater) get involved with opiates pain pills ( Vicodin , OxyContin) because they like the way the pills make them feel, and they get some consolation in the fact that  the pills are pharmaceuticals, pure, not street adulterated, you most often don’t have to go to sketchy neighborhoods to get your supply, and of course do not carry the stigma of getting involved in heroin (even if you don’t inject it- but smoke it or inhale it). So what happens? These folks take more pills every day, as their addiction grows, and the need for more and more of the drug is driven by their increasing tolerance. Of course the cost grows as well, easily reaching $150-$200 a day. Suddenly they can’t get all they need from their middle class connections, they’re running out of money, or on a given day, or weekend, there is just nothing available in their safe circle of friends and connections. So what do they do: The go to that sketchy neighborhood, and deal with those sketchy folks they wanted to avoid in the first place, and find that they can buy some pretty powerful heroin for a fraction of what the pills are costing them. Now they have come full circle. Heroin now becomes the cost effective solution to their daily addiction needs, and those sketchy neighborhoods, and those sketchy folks, don’t seem so sketchy after all.  Welcome to the insidious world of opiate pill addiction.   Jerry Bayer