Introduction
According to existing facts concerning Alabama, County, there is high appetite and demand for opoid based drugs. Residents of Alabama receive the highest number of painkiller prescription compared to any other state in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that Alabama has the highest demand for opoid and painkiller prescription. For example, in 2012, there were at least 143 prescriptions per 100 people in Jefferson County. Heroin use in Jefferson County is strongly linked to inextricably use of prescription medication and abuse. A simple, introduction to heroin begins with a prescribed painkiller such as OxyContin, or Lortab. When the people assigned to prescriptions become immune to the pill or the prescriptions runs out, people often turn to heroin to quench their thirst. This paper discusses the heroin problem in Jefferson County, Alabama, and possible solutions to the problem.
The fact that heroin is cheaper compared to Lortab and an OxyContin prescriptions, makes it easier for heroin to flood the market than the medicinal opoid. Heroin deaths in Jefferson County skyrocketed to about 140 percent in 2014 alone; where 123 people were confirmed to have died from heroin drug. The average age of people dying from heroin related cases stood at 36 years. The federal, state, and local law enforcement systems have pooled resources to pursue heroin epidemic in Jefferson County. It is clear that the drug abuse epidemic in Jefferson County is deeply rooted in the community. The fight against heroin in Alabama needs to take a multi-faceted formula to deal with all angles that contribute to availability of heroin in Alabama that has hampered many lives in the county. We have at least 122, 000 cases that involves people directly that need treatment in North Central Alabama alone (Stein 2015).
Context of drug-Abuse in Jefferson County
The introduction of heroin to Alabama dates back to 1898, when Bayer Company officially commenced commercial production of heroin in Jefferson County. According to pharmacology studies, heroin was seen as an effective drug compared to Morphine and Codeine. Several clinical trials produced promising findings that made doctors and people to believe that heroin was kind of a wonder drug that possessed miracles that Morphine and Codeine could not perform. Heroin based on its effectiveness was advertised as a non-addictive drug, which was a perfect alternative to Morphine. Nevertheless, despite the manufacturers touting heroin as a wonder drug, its repeated administration led to development of drug tolerance (Hosztafi 2001).
Patients who used heroin as an alternative to Morphine quickly became addicted. In that regard, addicts of Morphine leaned about the euphoric content of heroin as early 1900. The addicts did not learn about the euphoric properties of heroin and stopped there, in fact they dug deeper and discovered that in order for one to experience euphoria from heroin he or she must administer the drug intravenously to the body. The abuse of heroin spread very quickly in Alabama, such in 1924, the Heroin Act was developed. The Act declared all types of use, manufacturing and distribution of heroin illegal. The use of heroin for medicinal purposes was also banned, thereby, eliminating the possibility of encouraging more addicts in the community. Due to the Heroin Act of 1924, the production and consumption of heroin drastically decreased by 1931 onwards (Stein 2015).
Whereas, the authorities banned all forms of uses of heroin in Jefferson County, traffickers discovered the scarcity of the drug and the demand in the county. Therefore, traffickers introduced heroin afresh to Alabama after being banned in the 1924, Heroin Act, by producing and selling heroin illegally to the people. The authorities played their role of law enforcement and seized as much heroin as possible. At first the law enforcement seized huge amounts of heroin. However, the growth of illicit heroin industry in the world exploded in the following decades, thereby, making it a challenge for law enforcement alone to solve the issue of heroin abuse in Jefferson County (Wilson 2014).
The recent growth in demand of heroin world saw an increase of up to ten times the normal rate in Alabama, especially from 1970 onwards. A few years back, heroin has continued to become less expensive and readily available to the market. The production of heroin in countries such as Afghanistan, Mexico, and Columbia has contributed to high consumption of heroin in Jefferson County, by making it available and inexpensive. For example, Birmingham state is the leading drug trafficking artery that sees to it that there is a continuous stream of heroin supply in Jefferson County (Hosztafi 2001).
In the year 2000, interstate of 20 out of 59 states that passes through Birmingham have become a primary infrastructure or tunnel for drug trafficking not just in Alabama but other parts of the world. Given the intensified force of the 20 states, drug permeation has increased significantly in Jefferson County. Illicit drugs including heroin have become a common thing in Alabama’s largest county. Birmingham being the largest city in the State of Alabama is the main hub for dealers, who smuggle drugs to larger cities in the United States such as Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Diego. The increased nature of drug presence in Birmingham city, and the increased availability of heroin in general have driven the demand up. The decreasing nature of opioids in form of prescription drugs, have heightened the use of heroin in Jefferson County in the most shocking level (Anson 2012).
Jefferson County is basically crippled by heroin drug, as many people ranging from school going age to adults are engaged in some of heroin abuse. The heroin epidemic in Jefferson County has reached alarming rates that require quick intervention. The people that live in Jefferson County risk losing their lives if, immediate measure could not be developed to address heroin epidemic in Jefferson County. It is highly demoralizing that the number of heroin related deaths in Jefferson County doubled in 2012. Fast forward to 2014, the number of death related to heroin abused assumed an upward trend from 2012. As of December, 2014, the number of death directly linked to heroin had increased by at least 53 percent. In 2014, at least 137 deaths were directly linked to heroin abuse (Hosztafi 2001).
The number of death and heroin abuse in Jefferson County has continued to increase as confirmed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating a 20 percent increase from 2013. Both use and death related to heroin drug continues to increase in Jefferson County. The intensified campaign by traffickers to produce and distribute heroin in Alabama has taken unprecedented trend such that in 2015, the rate of heroin abuse continued to increase in Jefferson County. Traffickers mainly use the Southwest border in Texas, and then use private and commercial means of transport to move along the main interstates that produce and distribute heroin to Jefferson County and other parts in the United States such as Atlanta, Chicago, and San Diego among other states. Drug abuse epidemic in Jefferson County has gone beyond state of emergency (Stein 2015).
Law enforcement, schools, parents, and the government need to wake up to the reality of heroin epidemic and match the problem with immediate solutions to save the children and future generations. Traffickers have nothing to lose their concerted connections would ensure that every child born in Alabama becomes their potential customer. The government of Alabama State cannot allow such motives to prevail in the country. People should pool resources together and find the drug traffickers and take them to prison to cut and disrupt their network. The number of deaths has been way too much to sanction attention. Drug traffickers are organized in different levels, therefore fighting drug abuse in Jefferson County must begin from basic levels, which are the street level dealers to advanced wholesale international distributors (Wilson 2014).
Heroin Problem in Jefferson County
Many people in Jefferson County were introduced to heroin after being addicted to opioids. The use of opioids as prescriptions for painkillers, are commonly prescribed to a patient after an injury of surgical procedure. Whereas, other people use opioids as prescribed painkillers, other heroin users today, were introduced and addicted to the drug by using pills prescribed to their friends or family members. Some of the most commonly available opioids in the market include Hydrocodene, Morphine, and Codeine. These opioids are sold using their brand names of Vicodin and Lortab as well, as, Oxycodene, which popular sells using the OxyContin brand name (Anson 2012).
In 2010, for example, OxyContin as prescription opioids changed its formula to avoid being crushed or converted for intravenous use just as heroin. Based on changing the formula by OxyContin, and the increasing cost of prescription opioids, many users of the prescription switched to heroin, given the fact that it is easily available and its cost is low. Additionally, users of OxyContin prescriptions find, heroin as a perfect alternative to the prescriptions. According to Regional Director of Bradford Health Services based in Jefferson County, Antony Reynolds, it cost 100 dollars to access prescription opioids to achieve the euphoria that heroin offers to an addict. Therefore, when we compare the price of investing in prescription opioids to achieve highness, heroin becomes the choice drug because it only costs user 15 dollars to achieve the euphoria effect in heroin (Wilson 2014).
In fact, street-level, drug dealers make profit from heroin using the established economic principle of supply and demand. The fact that the market has indicated a need for a product, drug traffickers have found away to satisfy their customers by meeting their demand. It is important to point out that, while dealing in heroin and other banned substances is risky and dangerous, it is important to point out that the illegal trade is highly profitable, thereby, making the traffickers bold and sophisticated. It is difficult to unmask a heroin network. People, who deal in heroin and other illegal drugs that risk turning the Jefferson County into a zombie, are well- educated and sophisticated people, who have discovered news to make money (Stein 2015).
As long as children of schooling aging level understand heroin and how it functions, it means that the people supply to meet the demand of heroin in Jefferson County are well, connected people in the society, who have lived long enough in Alabama State to understand its problem. Dealers in heroin are described as purveyor of death not just to Jefferson residents but also other states that they supply the illegal drug. Confidential information confirms that, heroin dealers make at least 12,000 dollars per week. Dealing in heroin sounds as a great business idea that a potential business man or women without ethics would not resist, given the big returns. The fact that Bayer Company knew from the beginning the chemical dependence in heroin and still advertised it as non-addictive alternative to Morphine or Codeine, shows that the company knew the amount of money they would make out of heroin (Hosztafi 2015).
Therefore, when dealers compare the profits and the number of deaths, it means nothing to them, their interest is to make money and meet the demand in the market after all, and supplying heroin is also a need just as any other need in the market. The interstate element of at least 20 states passing through Birmingham to other parts of the world would ensure that Jefferson remains their main play ground in terms of heroin abuse. The fact that, heroin was marketed before, as effective drug, means that it is difficult to debunk the lie and shift the attention of users away from heroin. It would take a lot of concerted effort from various stakeholders to root out the epidemic of heroin abuse in Jefferson County. Traffickers have made Jefferson County their footstool and would not let go of their chief profit earner. The money involved in trafficking heroin shows that traffickers have the potential to cause harm to agencies that want to destroy their businesses. Therefore, the fight against drug-abuse epidemic in Alabama County should assume strategic moves to catch the real culprits and apprehend them to avoid losing a County to drug abuse (Anson 2012).
The fact that, heroin drug epidemic is illegal and unregulated at the same time, the power, with which it is supplied is highly variable. Therefore, the illegal drug market itself is highly competitive, therefore, forcing dealers to meet the demand of heroin in the market by supplying pure heroin, which comes across as highly dangerous and addictive. The pure heroin doses result in quick addiction, thereby making people highly dependent to the drug, thereby, creates a market for the illegal drug dealers. The fact that heroin when sold in its almost pure form increases the chances of users being dependent to the drug, it is also easier to use heroin with other highly powerful opioids such as Fentanyl, which is used in post-surgical as a pain reliever (Hosztafi 2001).
The dangers of heroin continue to take a multifaceted angle thereby, creating challenges to fighting it from the community. The fact that, it can pass as a legal drug using other opioids means that more people might be accessed to heroin without the knowledge of law enforcement. The fight against drug abuse in Jefferson County is a complicated fight. The heroin epidemic continues to take different dimensions that possess challenges to the different stakeholders every day. Now that the dealers have discovered the psychology of supplying heroin in Jefferson County, the moment the authorities would unmask one network, they use a different technique to meet the demand in the market (Stein 2015).
Given the potency of heroin dealers in term of money, it would not be a big challenge from dealers to collude with manufacturers of opioids that cut with heroin to still supply the illegal drug to the market, even when people involved in eradicating the epidemic in Jefferson County would think that they have won the war of drug abuse by apprehending major traffickers in the industry. The deaths associated with heroin abuse continue to increase in Alabama pointing to the gravity of the deeply rooted heroin abuse. More young adults are wasting their lives away by engaging in heroin, thereby, impacting on their productive years and robbing the economy needed productivity. Heroin epidemic is not the kind of problem that stakeholders would wake up one day and fight it in one phase. Heroin abuse has evolved and taken different dimensions. Therefore, law enforcement, parents, teachers, and governments must dig deeper to understand the different dimensions that heroin abuse takes place in Jefferson County (Field 2006).
It would take time to root out heroin and other drugs from Jefferson County, given, the fact that Birmingham the biggest city in Alabama State is the artery of that connects the intestates that supply drugs to Jefferson County and hosts the most sophisticated network of drug traffickers. There must be deliberate effort to investigate all interstates that use Birmingham to access other parts of the world. The burden of meeting the costs of addicts’ continues to grow at the same time as rate of deaths related to heroin abuse. According to Chief Deputy Coroner for Jefferson County Yates, confirmed that, there were at least 80 deaths directly linked to prescription opioids and 137 death linked to heroin, and other seven deaths, where heroin was mentioned as a contributing factor in 2014 statistics. Statistics further, shows that many white males died from heroin addiction compared to white female and black people. Out of the 137 deaths that occurred in 2014, directly linked to heroin abuse, at least 120 people were white male, while heroin accounted for 47 white female, and 17 black people. The age distribution of those people who died as a result of heroin abuse ranged from 19 years to 69 years (Wilson 2014).
In 2014, alone, the rate of heroin deaths doubled in Jefferson County and rose to 55 percent higher compared to the rate of accidents and firearms combined. Jefferson County, therefore, has more people dying from drug abuse compared to the people dying as a result of accidents or firearms. Heroin results in death of its users in the sense that, heroin comes from the opium poppy, a derivative known as opioids. Therefore, the opioids in heroin bonds with opioids receptors in the body of the heroin user, mainly the brain as well, as the brain stem. It is clear that brain stem controls the respiration function in the body. Therefore, upon using, heroin by the user through the intravenous injection, the heroin user’s respiration rate slows down (Field 2006).
At certain occasions depending to the extent of use, the respiration process might slow down or stop altogether. When respiration function ceases, other tissues in the body feel the impact from lack of supply of oxygen. The cardiac cells of the heart are the most impacted, when respiration stops in the body of a heroin victim. When the body goes for a few minutes without oxygen the heart stops beating, resulting in death. Jefferson County is under danger of losing its inhabitants to drug abuse. The deliberate artery of interstates that use Birmingham as their trafficking zone would not slow down any time soon. The fact that illegal drugs is a profitable business means that people involved in supplying heroin in Jefferson County are highly influential in the society. The State government of Alabama must take deliberate steps to disrupt the drug network that dealers use to infuriate the Jefferson County. It is clear that the impact of drug abuse is costing lives, yet the purveyors of death are fattening their bank accounts (Wilson 2014).
The interstates that necessitate the trade of heroin in Jefferson state must be investigated and stopped from using such routes. Countries such as Afghanistan, Mexico, and Columbia, which have been cited as the main producers and distributors of heroin in Jefferson Country must be faced directly bet the Alabama State government and warned about their dealings. Now that we know, where heroin comes from and who supplies, developing immediate solutions would not be a challenge as long as stakeholders are willing to stop the deaths that arise from heroin related abuse (Field 2006).
Solutions to Drug Abuse in Jefferson County
The drug abuse epidemic in Jefferson County is a serious matter that deserves greater attention to find out effective working solutions. Children who form the next generation are at danger of losing their sanity and dignity as human beings. Growing up in a society that is deeply rooted in drugs and addictions can easily form an opinion for children that abusing drugs is a normal way of life, something that might very detrimental to the health of the society. Heroin abuse in Alabama is at its worst and the negative impact that is causing to the people is escalating at an alarming rate. Deaths resulting from heroin abuse continue to increase even today. One of the most saddening things about the deaths from heroin abuse in Jefferson County is that young adults aged 20 years to 29 are the most affected. Out of the 137 deaths reported to have occurred as a result of heroin 47 people, who died were persons aged between 20 years and 29 years (Tonia & Houston et al. 2015).
The community, parents, teachers, and law enforcement have no choice but to come together and develop solutions that solve and prevent heroin abuse and other drugs that threaten the well-being of children and adults in Jefferson community. The manner in which drug traffickers are focused and organized to ensure that Jefferson County becomes their footstool in terms of heroin addiction and other drugs would eventually win their battle of making Jefferson their drug zone. Therefore, relevant authorities should act with speed to counter the efforts of the drug traffickers. Drug traffickers have mastered the psychology of Jefferson County and they are not threatened at all with the search by law enforcement to unfoil their drug networks because they know that there will always be a replacement. It is therefore, the duty of the concerned people to act promptly and rescue children from falling prey to the allures of heroin and other drugs peddled by the traffickers (Stein 2015).
Opioids Antagonist
We all understand that before people get to use heroin and other drugs, they first begin with opioids, which are prescribed for injuries and other post-surgical procedures. Therefore, to prevent more people from falling victim of heroin, prevention measures should begin with issuing opioids antagonists to detoxt the addicts. Reversing the overdose by administering opioids antagonist forms a first step towards the right direction. The main benefit that opioids antagonists offers to users is that it blocks opioids from receptors and enables the brain stem to control respirations. The opioids measure not only reverses the overdose from drug abuse but also prevents deaths that might occur from heroin abuse. One of the main ways deaths occur as a result of heroin abuse is the effects to the brain and brain stem that interferes with oxygen supply in the body. The moment respiration slows down and, the hearts stops and a clinical death happens (Carson 2015).
We must accept that drug abuse epidemic in Jefferson County has done it mess already in the worst way. Therefore, to forge forward, prevention measures must begin by addressing the people already affected. Recommending opioids antagonists is the perfect way to reverse the overdose menace that has resulted in addiction. Naloxone is the perfect form of opioids antagonists that helps in reversing the overdose of heroin. The main way of administration revolves on the manual opening of the airway and carrying out the rescue breathing prior to the administration of an opioids antagonist. Rescue breathing is a concept of any cardiopulmonary resuscitation training. The training program is needed in emergency medical service personnel in Alabama, when treating an opoid overdose (Tonia & Houston et al. 2015).
The most effective way to prevent deaths from heroin overdose is to ensure that opioids antagonists are in the hands of first responders. The immediacy in response determines, whether a life is saved or lost. Therefore, opioids antagonists play a significant role in saving lives of the heroin users that negatively affected and their life is in danger. The nature of deeply rooted of drug abuse in Jefferson County demands for more preventive measures to deal with the different dimensions that drug abuse has taken in Jefferson County. Whereas, efforts need to be concentrated on educating children and young adults who are not affected by drug abuse the dangers of heroin and other drugs, we cannot ignore the fact that we already have people in the society who are affected and need help (Hosztafi 2001).
Equipping first responders with opioids antagonist, would create a positive impact in Jefferson County. More people who have taken an overdose of heroin would be rescued from dying. Therefore, if, the Jefferson County manages to train emergency medical personnel concerning rescue breathing and eventually equip them with opioids antagonists, more people would be saved from dying as other prevention measures are explored to root out drug abuse from gripping the Jefferson County. People deserve their lives and an opportunity to make decisions that they will celebrate in life. Law enforcement and other leading stakeholders cannot afford to let drug traffickers to overpower their effort. Introducing such small programs such as opioids antagonists to deal with various overdoses of different drugs would help in reducing the number of death associated with heroin in Jefferson County. Stakeholders in Alabama need to hit the problem head on to keep up with the widely spreading tentacles of drug trafficking in the County of Jefferson. Parents, who have lost their children or family members from heroin overdose, understand the pain of drug abuse, and they are looking out what the community is doing to deal with the challenge. Preventing drug abuse in Jefferson County is no longer the battle of the state government or law enforcement. Fighting drug abuse in Alabama is about the community coming together and exploring possible measures they can adopt to challenge drug abuse and drug trafficking in Jefferson County (Carson 2015).
Peer-Based Prevention Programs
The best and effective prevention programs that has proved its worth is the Peer-Based Prevention Program. The program focuses on long-term solution to drug abuse. The program responds to the economic principle of supply and demand. When parents and teachers take up the initiative of educating children, and teenagers about the dangers of heroin, they break the chain of supply and demand. The education among the children reduces the chance of the children being potential consumers of heroin in the future. The effects of heroin on the body are well known. The damage that the drug carries to one’s body and the impact of addiction to families is huge. Therefore, opining up about the dangers of heroin to children and their parents’ forms a critical point of preventing heroin abuse in the community (Wilson 2014).
Focusing on the entire family in the fight against drug abuse apart from educating the family about dangers of heroin also factors in children who constitute the next generation. Equipping children as the next generation with information regarding the dangers of heroin and other drugs not only saves their current life but also prevents future generation from engaging in bad practices that result in drug abuse. Therefore, programs such as peer-based drug prevention utilize students who are willing to understand and put in their time to concentrate on the whole issue of heroin and problems around it. When students take up the role of educating each other about drug abuse, the society can breathe with ease that the future is safe. We strongly believe that the people in Jefferson County, who are currently victims of heroin overdose, did not have drug prevention programs that had earlier taught them about dangers of heroin. Therefore, by encouraging peer-based drug prevention programs that are primarily handled by children versus children themselves, acts as an empowering program (Tonia & Houston et al. 2015).
Schools, therefore, form as the perfect place where peer-based drug prevention programs develop and spread in the community. Each school chapter that institutes a peer-led addiction prevention program gets the support of a member of faculty from that school that is passionate about drugs and connects well with children. Children need honest conversations about drugs. Therefore, when we have peer-led addiction prevention programs in schools and in those programs we have honest confessions of students who were victims of drug abuse and how they came out of it helps and strengthens others in the programs to understand the impact of the heroin abuse. The more information children access concerning heroin abuse, the wiser they become. It is, therefore, very difficult for a drug trafficker to convince such an empowered child that drug abuse is good (Field 2006).
Peer-based drug prevention programs have delivered positive results in terms of abstinence among students. Students pledge to never engage in drug abuse of any form, thereby, fostering the fight against drug abuse and heroin overdose in Jefferson County in particular. When honest conversations take center-stage in the fight against drug abuse, more information is shared and learned about dangers of various drugs that affect people and the eventual impact that such drugs leave on the lives people. Parents and teachers come across as the perfect group of people that can drive the fight against drug abuse very effectively. When parents open up concerning critical issues such as drug abuse and educate their children concerning the dangers, the children start to notice the dangers and avoid the drugs. When the conversations becomes intensified such that every student in schools cannot finish a casual conversation without mentioning drugs in it, drug traffickers would sooner have no demand for heroin in Jefferson County. We need effective prevention programs such as peer-based drug prevention programs to fight drug abuse in Jefferson County from the core of the society. Many drug dealers see children as their replacement consumers, when drug user continue to age and reduce their level of heroin consumption. Therefore, when education precedes drug traffickers, they would have a hard time attracting children and teenagers into drug abuse (Stein 2015).
When we talk about peer-based drug Prevention measures, it is also important to mention that heroin users commence the practice with taking prescription opioids in the form of pain killers. At least 64 percent of high school users access prescription drugs from their family members even without their knowledge. In that regard, establishing prescription drug monitoring and prescription drug drop-off programs comes in handy in dealing with prescription drugs that result in addiction thereby, leading a user to hard drugs such as heroin. Prescription drug monitoring and prescription drug drop-off programs have demonstrated 100 percent effectiveness in removing all prescription drugs from children and the community, thereby, lowering the chances of one being addicted to prescription drugs or thinking of heroin as a good alternative to prescription drugs (Wilson 2014).
The fact that, prescription drug monitoring and prescription drug drop off programs helps in preventing access to opioids and other drugs that might result in addiction, means that the chances of young children accessing prescription drugs that might introduce them to heroin are eliminated, completely, thereby making the society safe for both children and adults to co-exist and experience a normal life. Control programs in Alabama have been in place for the last ten years, where anyone engaged in dispensing controlled substances is required to report his or her engagement to the database controlled by the Alabama Department of Public Health. The program has ensured that abuse and misuse of prescription drugs ceases, thereby, contributing to positive fight towards heroin abuse in Jefferson County (Tonia & Houston et al. 2015).
The primary goals of the prescription controls program is to educate people who use prescriptions, dispensers, and law enforcement as well as the public concerning abuse, misuse, and diversion and at the same time offer effective information concerning the history of different prescription drugs. Through such programs, people gain information, thereby, leading to the reduction of drug abuse and possible diversion of prescription drugs among prescribers, dispensers, and law enforcement.
Zero Addiction Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Campaign
It is very imperative that awareness campaigns become a permanent fixture in Jefferson County addressing dangers of drugs and the impact of drug addiction on the family. Education is the biggest weapon that people can own to defend their lives from being preyed upon by drug traffickers. The awareness campaigns should prevail all over ranging from schools, the community, and even churches. Campaigns such as zero addiction are significant campaigns that have understood the effects of drug abuse and are now committed to fight drugs in the community at all costs. Zero addiction campaign in particular is an effort of a coalition of state agencies aimed at informing people in Alabama that abuse of prescription drugs not only result in crime, but also destroys families and kill people at the same time. The Zero Addiction, Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Campaign is funded by the federal government seeks to spread the message concerning the dangers of abusing prescription drugs ranging from painkillers, anti-depressant drugs, and anti-anxiety sedatives. Using radio and television to spread the message is a perfect way to address many people at the same time and ensuring the message travels to all corners of Jefferson County (Carson 2015).
The focus of the program is to spark conversations concerning problems that come with abusing prescribed medication. When people become addicted to prescription drugs they always seek stronger drugs that eventually lead them to drugs such as heroin and other hard drugs that result in adverse effects that put their lives at risk. Prevention campaigns developed around creating awareness and sharing information concerning the dangers of abusing drugs not only fills the gap that existed previous but also empowers the community with information. It is always a lack of information that motivates people to make bad choices or join bad companies that introduces them to drugs abuse. However, when information concerning the dangers of drug abuse prevails in every corner, it becomes difficult for drug traffickers who take advantage of the ignorance of the people to introduce them to drugs (Wilson 2014).
The fact that prevention campaigns have also included discouraging people from abusing prescription drugs means that the next alternative of drug traffickers colluding with manufacturers of prescription drugs used on injuries and post-surgical treatment that cuts well with heroin would not succeed. Programs encourage the public to drop off prescription drugs from their homes and disposal has helped in reducing the level of people accessing prescription drugs that might result in addiction and eventually guide them to heroin abuse. We must commend the various efforts from state agencies such as the Zero Addiction campaign and parents and teachers coming together and talking about dangers of drug abuse to their children. It is a lack of such information that made Jefferson County a footstool of drug traffickers. More deaths occurred because victims did not have an alternative that would restore their condition to normal. However, with intensified prevention programs in the County of Jefferson right now, we strongly believe that the rate of death from heroin would reduce and the number of people affected with heroin overdose would go down, thereby, gradually restoring life to Jefferson County (Carson 2015).
The more conversations about heroin abuse and its problems in the community greet every corner, the more people receive help and rescue their lives. Heroin today in Alabama ranks in position two behind Methamphetamine as the most dangerous drug according to state agencies in Alabama. There is possibility of rooting out heroin in Jefferson County if, people heed the awareness campaigns and embrace the various programs developed in the community to deal with the dangers of drug abuse. We have more people willing to help victims of heroin and the community in general to avoid falling victim of heroin drug. The pooling of resources among state agencies, teachers, local governments, federal government, and parents is a strategic move that aims at locking out drug traffickers from finding a market of heroin in Jefferson County (Wilson 2014).
Conclusion
The fact that imprisonment has failed to reduce the problem of heroin consumption in Alabama, does not necessarily mean that drug traffickers should be left loose. Instead, law enforcement should intensify their fight and ensure that many drug dealers go to jail and seek out their replacement and lock them up to keep Jefferson County safe. Our solutions, are effective offerings that would result in 100 perfect effectiveness if, implemented effectively. Jefferson County deserves dignity just as any other County in the United States. People with bad intentions from Mexico, Afghanistan, and Columbia who produce and distribute heroin knowing that they have a ready market in Jefferson County must be searched, stopped, and prosecuted.
Every life matters, it is immoral to mislead children into consuming products that harms their lives. Prevention measures in place have the potential to eliminate the problem of drug abuse in Jefferson County. The honest conversations that parents and teachers have started and the concerted efforts of different stakeholders in the Jefferson County all culminate in positive impacts in terms of fighting drug abuse in Jefferson County. The different angles that the different prevention programs have assumed promise positive results.
Programs such as the Peer-Based Drug Prevention, Prescription drug monitoring control and prescription drug drop-off programs have 100 percent effectiveness in terms of preventing the County from fostering more heroin abuse and new addictions. The removal of prescription drugs from the disposal of people have ensured that addiction to opioids that might result in heroin abuse are no-existent. Students have taken matters into their own hands and are educating each other concerning the dangers of heroin abuse. Therefore, the likelihood that future generation would not consume drugs stands. The current prevention programs that have included children, students, teachers, parents, law enforcement, and the governments at all levels would deliver positive results in the future.
References
Anson, P. (2012). New OxyContin Formula has Many Users Switching to Heroin: Boston: Reuters
Carson, M. (2015). Alabama Launches Zero Addiction Campaign to Fight Opioids Abuse & Heroin: Boston: The Alabama Drug Abuse Task Force
Field, J. (2006). Advanced Cardiac, Life Support: Dallas: Journal of American Heart Association, vol. 12(1): 113-125
Hosztafi, S. (2001). The History of Heroin, Journal of Action and Pharmacology, vol. 71(2): 233-242
Stein, K. (2015). Alabama’s Heroin Epidemic: How did it start & how are Communities Fighting Back? : Birmingham: Huffington Post
Tonia, S. & Houston, L. et al. (2015). Jefferson County Heroin Epidemic: Auburn: Montgomery Outreach
Wilson, M. (2014). Heroin Epidemic in Birmingham: New York: McGraw-Hill
