Essay The Heroin Epidemic Example For Students

Essay The Heroin Epidemic Volunteering and participating in service projects are two of the most rewarding activities in my opinion. Some people may find it was a hassle or only do it because they have to meet the minimum requirement for school or work. Helping others, for me, has always been somewhat second nature to me. Over many years of volunteering I believe I have developed qualities that will stick with me for life and benefit me in my career. As early as freshman year, in high school, I found myself looking for ways to give back. I started by looking for opportunities within school, where I came across the A+ tutoring program, and so my journey of giving back began. While tutoring, my patience for others really evolved, partly by choice and partly because it had to. I was always searching for community programs to be a part of that could help me evolve as a person and at the same time raise awareness to important issues. I think overall one of the biggest lessons I learned while being a part of these groups, was to try to make yourself and your community a better environment for your peers. After high school I still volunteered for a local group that tutored and mentored inner-city schools, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered a superior problem requiring immediate service in our community. The heroin epidemic. ‘Heroin is an opioid drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant.† (Heroin) The deadly drug has been around since the 1850’s; it was a leading causing death then and is heading to be one again now. Heroin use is on the rise due to how cheap, easy, and pure it is. In the past year alone, I have personally known three people that have died because of a heroin overdose. â€Å"Statistics data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services indicate that the number of deaths in Missouri residents because of heroin overdose has increased significantly within the last four years from 69 cases in 2007 to 167 in 2009, and 190 in 2010.†(Facts) In the St. Louis area at least one person is killed a week because of this drug. You would think that people would stop using when they hear the statistics, or when they see their friend die because of it, but the truth is they canà ¢â‚¬â„¢t stop because they are already addicted. Alison, a young girl using states, â€Å"From the day I started using, I never stopped. â€Å"Within one week I had gone from snorting heroin to shooting it. Within one month I was addicted and going through all my money.† (International) The expanding epidemic of unawareness is taking its toll on the adolescents of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the rest of the world. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs makes it somewhat easier to understand why people use heroin. The top three levels of the pyramid, 1.social 2.esteem 3.self-actualization, show what people are trying to get out of using. Most people will begin using due to peer pressure and trying to fit in. What kids do not realize is that the first time using could lead to addiction. So they will continue using because it makes them feel better about themselves, it becomes a part of who they are. Pretty soon they look around and realize heroin is the only thing they have left, because everyone else has left. These problems teens are facing here in Missouri are the same ones they are facing all over the world. A recent statistic from the International Statistics of Heroin Addiction Abuse reports that over 9 million people in the world are using heroin. (International) You read stories every day of kids, teenagers, adults, celebrities, mothers, and fathers all who have gotten their hands dirty with the drug and eventually die because of it. â€Å"Just as rock stars helped popularize LSD during the 1960s, so have some fashion designers, photographers and advertising people of today influenced an entire generation of youth, by portraying heroin use in magazines and music videos as fashionable and even desirable.†(Trying Heroin) Celebrities such as Russell Brand, Kurt Cobain, and recently passed Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cory Monteith all used and suffered the tragic effects of heroin. People have yet to realize and comprehend the devastating effects, or at least that is what I think, because why else would you put yourself through that? Therapy Should Be The First Line For Treating PainIn hopes of raising the most awareness and trying to prevent as many deaths as we can, I would initially try and create a uniform front with the existing Heroin Awareness Campaign website. This website is a campaign for heroin awareness that started â€Å"because of the increased use of heroin in the area and the resulting overdose deaths, the National Council on Alcoholism Drug Abuse St. Louis Area approached the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and asked for help in finding ways to increase awareness about the dangers and realities of heroin in the Greater St. Louis Area. The Division provided funding to allow NCADA to launch the Curiosity + Heroin: Not Even Once campaign.† (Curiosity) They are a campaign that has taken imitative to raise awareness; I think pairing with them would help both of us in the long-run. I think starting out by working with this campaign would ease the process of getting my project off the ground. They already have established connections and support from the NCADA, a respectable foundation, with them supporting my project it would be easier to perform the second part of the project. Success of this type of service learning project could be hard to accurately measure, but I do believe we could somewhat determine its effectiveness. Following the statistics of drug overdose due to heroin in St. Louis city could give some headway to as if the project is actually producing real results. Another possibility to measure effectiveness could be anonymous before and after surveys. They could collect data on what people know about the drug, who has or hasn’t used it, and who would be willing to try it. Assessing what you’re dealing with beforehand could lead for a better result in the long run and possibly save lives. My service learning project requires a lot of determination and patience on my part. It will require a â€Å"strong team environment with people who share the same expectations and goals as me.† Distributed leadership between about ten people would be beneficial to accomplishing a lot of work in a short amount of time. I know I will be in charge of downward communication during most parts of the project, but I believe openly welcoming upward communication could result in a better outcome. Brainstorming from different types of people provides for finding the best ways to do a specific task. I would hope to create an organizational culture that people in other communities would like to mimic. Starting in St. Louis could be only the beginning, spreading the message nationwide and executing the same ideas could produce a great outcome and potentially save thousands of lives. For this particular SLP, I think it will teach me a lot of qualities about volunteering and changing a comm unity, qualities that will carry over into my career. My team skills and ability to be patient would most certainly be strengthened during the length of this project. Overall I believe any SLP you choose to do should be something you are passionate about, something you know you can change by exerting hard work. (Lehman) Bibliography Curiosity + Heroin: Not Even Once About. Curiosity + Heroin : Not Even Once About. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. Facts Stats About Heroin. Surburban Junky. N.p., 2011. Web. Heroin. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. International Statistics of Heroin Addiction Abuse, High School Students and Youth: Foundation for a Drug Free World. International Statistics of Heroin Addiction Abuse, High School Students and Youth: Foundation for a Drug Free World. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. Lehman, Carol M., and Deborah Daniel DuFrene. BCOM. Mason, OH: South-Western, 2013. Print. Trying Heroin Once, Addiction, Abuse Experimentation: Foundation for a Drug Free World. Trying Heroin Once, Addiction, Abuse Experimentation: Foundation for a Drug Free World. N.p., 2006. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.