The Heroin Epidemic

The Problem

• Heroin is the major cause of overdose deaths
• The deaths have increased 84% from 2010 to 2012
• 52% of all overdose deaths

Effects

Who's effected?

• New York City 
• Staten Island
• They started the pilot programs for Naloxone
• It's a problem everywhere!

Why Heroin?

• Due to prescription drugs becoming more expensive
• Police have tightened up on the availability of those drugs
• Thus, people moved to heroin because it is cheap and easy to get

Effects

The Numbers

• Every five days someone dies from overdoses on staten Island
• Every one in ten overdoses result in death
• Everyday 105 people die from a heroin overdose
• That's more than 30,000 deaths annually

The breakthrough

• Naloxone comes in a nasal spray or via needle
• It has been proven to save the lives of people who have overdosed

How does it work?

• Naloxone has been used for more than 40 years
• Heroin locks on to receptors in the brain, slowing the body down
• Eventually leading to death
• Naloxone frees up the receptors and restores consciousness
• It brings the victim back to life basically 

why now?

• The drug has been out for a while, but there's more that needs to be done
• Fighting to get it over the counter
• This would lead to the hope that it will reduce the death rate
• A new bill was introduced in New York 
• This would allow doctors to prescribe naloxone to someone at risk

Training

• More than 53,000 people have been trained from 1996-2010
• A medical respondent must be present when you give the drug        
• More than 10,000 lives have been saved thanks to naloxone in 2012

Funds

• The city and state health departments fund naloxone
• Given through hospitals and community-based program
• This is given at no cost
• Programs Include:
• San Francisco's Drug Overdose Prevention

What do users think?

• They would have never thought about using it
• They think it would never happen to them
• But family members and friends of addicts should keep the drug close
• Naloxone saves lives and prevents the inevitable 

WOrks Cited

•  Sgueglia, Kristina. The Heroin Epidemic, and the Antidote for Overdose. CNN, 10 Feb 2014. Web. 11 Feb 2014.  
• S. Hoffman, Robert. How to Stop Heroin Deaths. New York Times, 6 Feb 2014. Web. 11 Feb 2014.