Last weekend Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Oscar award-winning actor, was found dead in his Greenwich Village home. He was 46 years old.
Early word is that he died from an apparent heroin overdose. Hoffman had been, according to reports, “clean” for some 25 years.
In July 2013, Cory Monteith, an actor on the TV show “Glee” died as a result of a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol.
In Maryland and Pennsylvania last week, an epidemic of almost 60 heroin related deaths since last September was reported. This time the heroin was laced with the sedative fentanyl.
The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency has said that heroin, like a tidal wave, has hit the Northeast United States. It is inexpensive and it is accessible to those who use it. In the year 2012, over 669,000 American over the age of 12 had used heroin at some point during that year according to the federal Substance and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2011, 4.2 Americans over the age of 11 had tried the drug a least once, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An estimated 23 percent will be come addicts.
Substance abuse hasn’t left our community alone.
It seems that it’s becoming almost commonplace to read even in these pages about an arrest of a person with the possession and intent to distribute drugs, including heroin.
Used to be that what came with heroin was a stereotype of some sort of inner-city abandoned apartment where addicts would shoot up or inject the poison in the arm of someone else.
With Colorado legalizing marijuana, and Maryland among many states taking a serious look at making marijuana for medicinal purposes available, it seems as if there’s been a change.
Marijuana was once considered the “gateway” drug to more serious addiction issues. If you knew of a friend or family member using marijuana, the reaction was far more urgent and concerned than it is today.
Now teens and young adults have concocted a word that you and I may have known nothing about. It’s called “pharming.” It’s a situation where prescription drugs are sometimes stolen by teens or adult children from their very own parents’ medicine cabinets. Typically these drugs contain addicting opioids found in painkillers. Medications prescribed for attention deficit disorder are also sold sometimes by the very student who holds the prescription.
But these prescription drugs come with a hefty price tag. What has become less expensive is heroin.
That is why heroin seems to be everywhere. It is less expensive, yet it can kill you or a loved one. One doesn’t have to be a famous, wealthy actor to afford and risk their life over heroin.
I have covered enough NA meetings to know that while the 12-step programs are important and impactful, sometimes the insidious nature of the drug will become more important to a user than a “higher power.”
A person’s body demands more and more of the heroin. If a body is demanding it, it means that the person has to medicate himself to feel at least well.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was an incredible actor, both in film and on stage. He was reportedly “clean” for 25 years. But now he is dead forever.
We here on the Eastern Shore need to be vigilant on one hand, and sensitive on the other.
For some people, hope is the only elixir they can lean on. Hoffman was a big star, now he is someone we’ll remember while watching a movie. Please find help for those you love. It’s becoming an epidemic.
Early word is that he died from an apparent heroin overdose. Hoffman had been, according to reports, “clean” for some 25 years.
In July 2013, Cory Monteith, an actor on the TV show “Glee” died as a result of a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol.
In Maryland and Pennsylvania last week, an epidemic of almost 60 heroin related deaths since last September was reported. This time the heroin was laced with the sedative fentanyl.
The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency has said that heroin, like a tidal wave, has hit the Northeast United States. It is inexpensive and it is accessible to those who use it. In the year 2012, over 669,000 American over the age of 12 had used heroin at some point during that year according to the federal Substance and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2011, 4.2 Americans over the age of 11 had tried the drug a least once, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An estimated 23 percent will be come addicts.
Substance abuse hasn’t left our community alone.
It seems that it’s becoming almost commonplace to read even in these pages about an arrest of a person with the possession and intent to distribute drugs, including heroin.
Used to be that what came with heroin was a stereotype of some sort of inner-city abandoned apartment where addicts would shoot up or inject the poison in the arm of someone else.
With Colorado legalizing marijuana, and Maryland among many states taking a serious look at making marijuana for medicinal purposes available, it seems as if there’s been a change.
Marijuana was once considered the “gateway” drug to more serious addiction issues. If you knew of a friend or family member using marijuana, the reaction was far more urgent and concerned than it is today.
Now teens and young adults have concocted a word that you and I may have known nothing about. It’s called “pharming.” It’s a situation where prescription drugs are sometimes stolen by teens or adult children from their very own parents’ medicine cabinets. Typically these drugs contain addicting opioids found in painkillers. Medications prescribed for attention deficit disorder are also sold sometimes by the very student who holds the prescription.
But these prescription drugs come with a hefty price tag. What has become less expensive is heroin.
That is why heroin seems to be everywhere. It is less expensive, yet it can kill you or a loved one. One doesn’t have to be a famous, wealthy actor to afford and risk their life over heroin.
I have covered enough NA meetings to know that while the 12-step programs are important and impactful, sometimes the insidious nature of the drug will become more important to a user than a “higher power.”
A person’s body demands more and more of the heroin. If a body is demanding it, it means that the person has to medicate himself to feel at least well.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was an incredible actor, both in film and on stage. He was reportedly “clean” for 25 years. But now he is dead forever.
We here on the Eastern Shore need to be vigilant on one hand, and sensitive on the other.
For some people, hope is the only elixir they can lean on. Hoffman was a big star, now he is someone we’ll remember while watching a movie. Please find help for those you love. It’s becoming an epidemic.