Heroin Addiction: An Ethical Evaluation of New York City’s Heroin Manual

摘要

Public health officials are grappling with a new wave of heroin abuse across the New York Region. “During the first six months of 2009, 25 people in Nassau County died of heroin overdoses—more than from homicide and drunk driving combined; in 2008, 46 people fatally overdosed on heroin, up from 27 in 2007, according to Nassau officials. In New York City, recent drug raids of so-called heroin mills yielded hundreds of thousands of bags of drugs at a time, up from several hundred bags a year.” One of the most alarming aspects of this increase in heroin use is that it is occurring among teens and people in their early 20s; and many come from upper or middle-class suburban families. Another alarming aspect is that the heroin that is available in the Northeast is purer and more lethal than the kind that ravaged New York City in the 1970s. Dealers often mark bags of heroin with words like “Red Bull,” “Lexus,” “Kiss of Death,” “R.I.P” or skull and crossbones. This spike in heroin use is attributed to its widespread availability and low cost. A bag of heroin can sell for $5 to $25 and induce a six- to -eight hour high. Cocaine, by comparison, can cost $40 to $60 for a 30-minute high while prescription pain killers like Vicodin or OxyContin sell more than $40 a pill on the street.[ii] New York Public Health officials have made the availability of heroin and heroin addiction a major focus, but a comprehensive strategy is lacking.