How Heroin is Being Used to Detox People

You might not be aware of this, but heroin started off as an over the counter drug by the company Bayer pharmaceutical. In the late 1890’s, Bayer promoted both heroin and aspirin to adults and children for cold symptoms and pain relief. Fast forward to present day and America is facing one of the largest health crises in American history with over 64,000 overdose deaths in 2016 as many different group across the country try and figure out how to gain control of the epidemic and slow the loss of life.

Methadone and Suboxone have been thrown out as solutions to the problem, however, there are some real limitations in their ability to fight addiction. Methadone is extremely painful to come off of and the length of detox can go up to a month. On top of this, methadone does not block an opiate high, so an individual can begin mixing their original drugs in with the methadone. Suboxone also carries a longer detox time though not always as long or as intense as methadone. It is due to these factors that many remain on these drugs for an extended period.

Other countries have begun using medically administered heroin to get people off heroin. This is done for those who have tried methadone and suboxone with no success. Studies in Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands found that heroin-assisted treatment or HAT helped reduce the amount of illegal street drugs, while Germany found that Diamorphine was more effective than more traditional methadone treatment. The studies, done over 2 years with 515 test subjects found an increase in social stabilization and decrease in illegal drug use over other methods.

It is insane it has come to this point in countries across the world. Currently, America is working to lower the cost of suboxone but with not actual long-term treatment options receiving more funding than they have in the past. Many feel America is taking too long to take effective action against the opiate epidemic. Clearly, there is no viable solution and not much headway is being made with solving this on a national level. Perhaps this is the time a grassroots movement sparked by a viable idea can take hold. Suggestions, ideas…?

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