THE MESSAGE:
Cheap smuggled heroin is a widespread epidemic in America. It is rampant from the New England towns, where people overdose in the aisles of stores, to small N. Carolina communities where addicts seek out prescribed medication. The reality can be readily witnessed in the “safe injection” areas of the Pacific Northwest.
Public health officials have declared the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015. Overdose deaths were nearly equal to the number of deaths from car crashes. In 2015, for the first time, deaths from heroin alone surpassed gun homicides.
THE BLURB:
STREET NAMES:
Snow, Powder lines, Freebase, C, Dust, Crack, Rock, Coke, Flake, Blow
Cocaine comes from the leaves of the coca bush, which grows in the Andes Mountains in South America. Historically, the people in Peru and Bolivia chewed coca leaves for strength and energy when working without much food at high altitudes. Cocaine, after praise from Sigmund Freud, was widely and legally available in patent medicines and soft drinks, but is now an illegal substance.
HOW IT WORKS
Cocaine is a stimulant that triggers the reward system in the brain, which is why it's so addictive. Dopamine is responsible for our pleasurable feelings. Cocaine traps dopamine. It also effects serotonin which gives us an increased level of confidence and norepinephrine which keys up energy. It creates a build-up which is what maintains that pleasurable high. With repeated use, your brain becomes so accustomed to elevated levels of dopamine that it 'rewires' itself to create additional receptors for this chemical.
HOW IS IT USED?
Cocaine comes in a powder form (snorted or add water to inject), a freebase form (smoked) or in a crystalline form (rock/crack cocaine).
CANADIAN STATISTICS
- In 2005, about one Ontario student in 20 (4.4%) in grades 7 to 12 said he or she had used cocaine at least once in the past year. That is almost 43,000 students.
- About one Ontario student in 50 (2%) said he or she had used crack at least once in the past year. This is about 19,300 students.
- Toronto treatment centres report that cocaine is second only to alcohol as the most problematic substance requiring treatment.
- Toronto has roughly 1-2 cocaine deaths per 100,000 - Vancouver has almost 30.
In Canada, cocaine is the most common drug of injection users, followed by heroin.
KATIE HARVEY
Katie Harvey, 24, had been shooting heroin for three years. with the assistance of others, she had been in and out of detox eight times.
Katie had come to loathe her life. Accordingly she made her own arrangements for detox help. I haven’t even been doing enough to get really high,” she said. “I’m just maintaining myself so I don’t get sick.”
Katie Harvey had been a popular and beautiful honours student; however, she developed anorexia, turned to alcohol and by age 21 she was hooked on heroin.
In 2015, Katie was arrested on charges of prostitution. In an extraordinary act of contrition, she wrote a public apology online to her friends and family. At the same time Katie knew she was out of control. At her worst, she admitted to shooting up as many as 15 times each day. Her menu included heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. She overdosed five times and states tearfully, “I don’t know how I’m alive, honestly.”
At age 24, after entering detox on her own, Katie checked herself within four days and returned to her friends and drugs. She developed an abscess on her arm, probably from dirty needles. The track marks from shooting up were covered by tattoos and long sleeves.
Two weeks later, she was back in detox. This time, she stayed, then entered a 30-day treatment program. Let's pray for her recovery.
RHONDA PASEK
Shocking images of a couple from Ohio apparently overdosing with a child in their car have been posted on Facebook by US police to highlight the growing heroin and opioid epidemic in the US.
Rhonda Pasek, 50, and James Acord, 47, were charged with endangering a child. The police said they had decided to make the images public "to show the other side of this horrible drug".
"We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can't speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody," the police statement on Facebook said.
The boy, Pasek's four-year-old son, was taken into custody by children's services. More prayers please.
THE QUESTION:
Is incarceration the best way to handle Cocaine addiction?THE LEMON:
Awarded to Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria
His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He was often called "The King of Cocaine" and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $55 billion as of 2016), making him one of the richest men in the world at his prime.
His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He was often called "The King of Cocaine" and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $55 billion as of 2016), making him one of the richest men in the world at his prime.
THE QUOTE:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
THE CLIP:
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