Heroin: The Next Generation

What goes around comes around – and Heroin is back! But the face of yesterday’s junkie is not the face of the junkie of today. More young people than ever before are shooting it, snorting it — even smoking it. And they’re getting more bang for their buck when buying their heroin on the streets today. One reason: The purity of this drug is the highest at the street level than it’s ever been – that means users don’t have to use needles to inject the drug into their veins.

The new ability to snort or smoke heroin is enticing more young people than ever before to give it a try. Back in the 60s and 70s, heroin users primarily injected the drug into their bloodstream. The next generation of heroin users does not have to use needles to get high on heroin.

Smoking it or snorting it is more appealing to younger and first-time users by eliminating the fear of needles and syringe-associated diseases such as HIV, AIDS and hepatitis – not to mention the stigma associated with the stereotypical “junkie” who “shoots up” the drug.

Another reason heroin use is on the rise, according to James Hall, an epidemiologist for Up Front Drug Information Center in Miami, Florida is because prescription drug abuse is on the rise. “Young people who try prescription narcotic opiate drugs and like the effects of those drugs are turning to heroin because it packs a similar, yet more powerful punch than prescription narcotic opiates,” Hall says. “That’s why prescription drug abuse is becoming a stepping stone to first time heroin users.”

Broadcast Objectives:

• Learn about the different types of heroin being peddled on the streets of America.
• Learn how heroine affects the users.
• Hear first person accounts about heroin use from former users.
• Find out how the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office broke a major heroin trafficking ring that was selling the drug to young people in the affluent suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona.