If the latest statistics are to be believed, the price of heroin is now cheaper than alcohol. This sudden drop in price was brought to the fore by an increasing number of emergency room visits due to heroin overdose. The manner in which the numbers rose is impossible to ignore and is not a gradually increasing trend but a definite and sharp increase. For example, the use of heroin in Illinois increased by 400 percent in the 10 years ending 2008.
The sudden increase in the consumption of heroin is being attributed to the easy availability and low price of the drug. And as per some of the heroin addicts, it is impossible to say ‘no’ to the drug when it is being offered at such attractive prices.
A "stamp" of heroin
Reasons for High Availability of Heroin
The increase in heroin availability is obvious from the higher levels of drug purity, low prices in the market, increased level of abuse and the higher numbers of heroin overdose related deaths. The estimated heroin production from Mexico in 2004 was about 8.6 metric tons. The production increased at a steady pace to about 18 metric tons in 2007. But in 2008, the amount of heroin production from Mexico increased to 38 metric tons; an increase of 20 metric tons in a year (see CNN for more stats).
Heroin is also purer and more lethal than ever. The DEA Heroin Signature Program data indicates that purity for heroin from Mexico is as high at 40 percent, CNN suggests it is as high as 70.
Reasons for the Low Price of Heroin
The low price for heroin in the US and UK markets is being attributed to the higher yield in Mexico and a large number of organized drug dealers who have found the trade rewarding. The Justice Department’s National Drug Threat Assessment indicates that Mexican criminal groups are covering the eastern states and taking over the South American heroin market.
Today a dose of heroin is cheaper than a six pack or other popular teen opiates like Oxycontin and Hydrocodone. Indeed, Oxycontin has become a gateway drug to heroin for its addicts because Oxy is more expensive than heroin.
Most Likely Users of Heroin
Who is taking this heroin? Data indicates that heroin consumption has been increasingly particularly among middle class teens (see Huliq for more).
Another group that tends to use a fair amount of heroin are prescription opioid abusers. This is a trend indicated by treatment providers who consider that the switch occurs as the user builds a tolerance towards prescription opioids and seeks a more euphoric high. And with the increasing availability, low cost and higher purity of heroin, it is becoming easier to turn to heroin. This is probably part of the explanation for heroin growth in the suburbs – kids may begin by abusing drugs out of the medicine cabinet, and then move onto drugs that are more dangerous.
Checking the Heroin Issue
While there are various help groups that are working doggedly towards reducing this pandemic, it is mandatory for parents to realize that blaming the peer group is not always the easiest solution. While parents believe that the peer group has the strongest influence, this may not be true. Parents are the most influential people in a teens life because teens do not want to disappoint their parents. Adopting strategies to speak to your teens, intervening at house parties, checking belongings and becoming more aware of the symptoms of heroin abuse may help. Keeping an opiates drug test at home and letting your teen know about it is also a great way to discourage the habit. While a more sensitive test is needed for detecting the heroin gateway drugs (like OxyContin and Vicodin), a urine based opiates test will pick up heroin and morphine abuse for about 2-4 days after abuse (FYI, generally it takes 2-5 hours after administration for heroin to appear in the urine).
– Article by Anne Hamilton
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