Heroin has been a growing epidemic on Long island for the past few years and it is only getting worse. Heroin, also known as H and smack, is usually injected or smoked if it is in the freebase form. The drug is highly addictive and once someone starts, it’s hard to stop without treatment and detox. Heroin acts as a depressant and sends a warm sensation throughout the body causing reduced anxiety and an intense rush of euphoria. Injection is the most popular method for heroin addicts, and is prepared by dissolving the drug in water and mixing it with an acid and then heating it.

After a while, addicts stop using the drug to get high, they use it only to feel "normal." When being on heroin for years, it is hard to recreate the same high as when they initially started using. It is insanely hard for heroin users to stop using the drug because when they try to stop, they get sick, and are no longer able to function without the drug running through the body. Addicts start to need the drug just to get through the day. Without it, users begin to feel pain in their bones, they begin to vomit, they get the chills, and they can’t sleep.

Addicts start with injecting heroin into the veins of their arms, but when the veins start to collapse they move to more dangerous places as behind their knees, in their neck, between their toes, and the veins in their groin. The amount of people who have overdosed has tripled in Suffolk County since 2010, and heroin related deaths have increased by 38 percent by 2014.

According to the Long Island Herald, “Things have gotten so bad that Queens District Attorney, Richard Brown, has dubbed the Long Island Expressway, the “Heroin Highway." The drug is affecting people as young as 12 years old, because it is so cheap and easy to get. A large amount of heroin is around $80 and a small amount is as little as $7. The drug affects all types of people, people who are successful and have a good life, straight-A students, and even young adults just looking to try something new.

When I was younger, my best friend got addicted to heroin and Xanax when she was in her teenage years. She was addicted to the drugs for a few years until she decided to get help. She went down to Florida to attend an inpatient drug treatment center. She completed the entire program and is now currently living in Florida, has a job, and lives in a half way house.

People can change, but they have to WANT to change. We can’t make addicts attend treatment or rehab if they do not want to get help. Yes, we should encourage them and remind them of the risks every time they inject themselves with heroin, but we can’t force them to realize what is happening around them. Heroin is consuming the lives of millions of people on Long Island extremely fast and law enforcement is running out of time to stop it before it’s too late.

If you or someone you know needs help, or even if you suspect a problem, don’t wait. It will not go away on its own. Make the call to the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence at (516) 747-2606, or the Long Island Crisis Center’s 24/7 hotline at (516) 679-1111. You could save someone’s life.