The drug problem among New Jersey youth is nearing epidemic proportions. It is no different in other states around the country. So what are we doing about the growing problem of drugs generally, and heroin specifically?
With sprawling highways, one of the nation’s largest airports and three large ports, the state has the infrastructure to support a successful heroin racket. Now, thanks to a surge in painkiller addictions and some clever new marketing by dealers, the state’s heroin economy is booming. As reported in www.nj.com.
Prescription painkillers are the primary cause for the resurgence in heroin. People who get addicted to the opiates in painkillers and cannot afford the habit turn to a cheaper and more readily-available drug – heroin.
The market is flooded, the price has dropped, and with a generation of young, tech-savvy opiate addicts running low on cash and pills, the demand has exploded.
Heroin is an especially lethal drug because often it only takes one use and the addiction is set.
Statewide, the number of New Jerseyans between the ages of 18 and 25 admitted to addiction treatment centers for heroin rose by more than 12 percent between 2010 and 2011.
New Jersey needs to educate its youth through mandatory New Jersey drug classes beginning in middle school against ever trying heroin. Even I was terrified to try it.