Heroin is becoming easier and easier for young kids to obtain in today’s society.

There are some young kids that are now addicted to heroin.  It could be a normal kid that plays video games, and you could never tell that he/she is addicted to heroin–other than the needle marks on his/her arms.  Kids these days find it very easy to buy heroin because it is so much cheaper than it used to be.  “Between 1995 and 2002, the number of teenagers in America, aged 12 to 17, who used heroin at some point in their lives increased by 300%,” according to the Foundation for a Drug Free World.

“Cheese Heroin” is a highly addictive form of heroin that is a blend of black tar Mexican Heroin and over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol.  The drug only costs a few dollars; therefore, many kids are able to buy it and unfortunately become addicted to it.  “Cheese heroin” has been the cause of almost forty deaths in the North Texas region since 2004.

The reason why most people and children take drugs is to change something in their lives.  Young people have shared that they use drugs as an escape, to relieve boredom, to relax, and to seem grown up.  At the time, they think drugs are the solution, but in reality and in time, drugs will become the problem.  The consequences of drugs are always worse than the problem that you had in the beginning.

The following statistics below are found from the Foundation for a Drug Free World Website:

• An estimated 13.5 million people in the world take opioids (opium-like substances), including 9.2 million who use heroin.

• In 2007, 93 percent of the world’s opium supply came from Afghanistan. (Opium is the raw material for heroin supply.) Its total export value was about $4 billion, of which almost three quarters went to traffickers. About a quarter went to Afghan opium farmers.

• The 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported 153,000 current heroin users in the US in 2007. Other estimates give figures as high as 900,000.

• Opiates, mainly heroin, were involved in four of every five drug-related deaths in Europe, according to a 2008 report from the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction.

• Opiates, mainly heroin, account for 18 percent of the admissions for drug and alcohol treatment in the US.