Heroin addiction is a problem across the country and around the world, but attention turned to the heroin addiction epidemic in Long Island two years ago when the grossly high numbers first hit the news. Now, tales of heroin addiction in Long Island are again making headlines but with stories that are more and more violent and grotesque.

The Problem of Long Island Heroin Addiction

The sheer amount of heroin taken in recent drug busts, the number of those dying due to heroin overdose or heroin related accidents, and the rate at which the wealthy residents of Long Island continue to fund drug dealers from the city is horrifying to local officials. An average of two people per week overdose on heroin in Long Island and this strong resurgence after decades of dormancy make heroin a fearful foe for those who would like to see heroin addiction eradicated.

Fighting Heroin Addiction in Long Island: Prevention

The first attack against the increase in heroin addiction started with Nassau lawmakers. A new law was proposed that would allow the district attorney to prosecute drug deals for manslaughter if they are connected to a fatal heroin overdose. Next, Nassau County officials started a new awareness and educational campaign aimed at teaching young people about the dangers of heroin and addiction and stopping more young people from experimenting with the drug and becoming addicts. Narcotics investigations were then extensively increased and now officials have announced an anti-drug curriculum to further discourage new heroin addicts from developing.

Fighting Heroin Addiction in Long Island: Heroin Rehab Options

Long Island officials aren’t just talking about prevention measures and punishments to deter those already in the business; they are also looking at ways to increase the efficiency of heroin addiction treatment for those who are currently struggling with heroin addiction. Suboxone, approved by the FDA for nothing but opiate addiction treatment, is already legal and prescribed in Long Island, but Suffolk County officials are considering making the drug a part of adolescent treatment to make the withdrawal symptoms easier to cope with. The development of a Heroin Epidemic Advisory Panel is up for discussion as well.

Massapequa is one of the hardest hit areas in Long Island and a new education program called Too Good For Drugs is in the works.

Nassau County Executive Mangano says: “You cannot arrest your way out of a heroin epidemic.”

Another goal has been to help parents identify heroin use and abuse among their teens, even when they don’t display the typical symptoms associated with heroin addiction.

Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey says: “We are seeing a lot of Straight-A students and athletes that are heroin users. In almost all cases parents do not suspect their kid is a heroin user because they are doing well in school or they are involved in athletics. By the time parents become aware that there is a problem it is too late, their kids are hooked.”

Prevention education and early identification of heroin addiction and early drug treatment are the best options to help combat heroin addiction in Long Island and beyond. If there isn’t a market for the drug, the hope is that the drug dealers will go peddle their wares elsewhere or, better yet, find a new line of work.

There are a number of serious risks associated with heroin use, most famously AIDS/HIV transmission among those who share dirty needles, but the biggest threat to health of those with a heroin addiction is still taking a dose that is either too powerful or has been mixed with a dangerous toxin.

Take recent heroin overdose deaths in Atlanta.   Police found two men dead after using heroin the night before.   Forensics experts agreed that these men did seem to take enough of the drug to warrant death - and that the cause was likely to be an unusually strong form of the drug that had come up from Mexico.

More and more, people are dying from a heroin overdose because:

• They bought a package of heroin that was cut in such a way that was very potent.
• The drugs were cheap and therefore mistaken to be “weaker” in quality
• The heroin was mixed with poisonous chemicals when cut by dealers or suppliers.

Regardless of the reasons, hundreds of people each month are dying as a result.   Heroin, like current crops of marijuana, is much stronger than it used to be.  But unlike powerful marijuana, heroin that is too much for the individual can be lethal.

In the past, police have been able to trace dangerous shipments of heroin by visiting emergency rooms in the days after the drugs hit the streets.   The result was always a fascinating cross section of people - most of whom would never have been linked together were it not for their shared heroin substance abuse.

There are just too many risks involved with heroin to continue using.  If you, or someone you know has developed a heroin addiction, contact a drug rehab program that knows how to treat opiate addiction.   With the powerful, potentially deadly heroin hitting our streets, every time you use is like playing Russian roulette.