It’s so important to scrap stereotypes and perceptions in order to have a clear sense of today’s drug users. I encourage parents and other adults to recognize that our kids are today’s users. This is why our community must come together to share experiences, resources and hope. MM
At one time it was poor, minority urbanites that become addicted to heroin.
Today’s heroin addict is more likely a white youth from the suburbs, one study suggests. Most get hooked when they migrate from prescription painkiller addiction. In the majority of cases, these teens and young adults filched pills from someone’s medicine cabinet. How do we know this? It’s all according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
9,000 participants in drug rehab centers across the country filled out the survey. 90% of users were Caucasian, both male and female. The average age of a respondent was 23. The majority had taken opioid painkillers before moving on to heroin, 75% in total. The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. This is a big demographic shift from the last heroin epidemic during the 1960’s and 70’s. At…
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