Abuse Of Opiates In Dreamland By Sam Quinoes

Sam Quinoes, the author of Dreamland, was able to combine the multiple stories to form into his own narrative. Throughout the book he discussed how rapid the opiate addiction spread across the country, how young or old these people were, and the race that was mainly affected. That led me to the question, what actually is the average age group, race, and location of most of these opiate addictions. Opiates originally were prescribed to relieve acute pain, but over time it created the addiction and abuse of the drug. Some of the most abused opiates are mainly prescription painkillers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and heroin. To kind of describe why these drugs are so addictive, once an abuser takes the drug it enters through the bloodstream which created fake endorphins and dopamine creating a huge rush of happiness. After taking the drug for an extended amount of time it causes the brain to stop making dopamine and endorphins (Opiate Addiction | What Are Opiates & Why So Addictive?). Quinones mentioned in his book that “Drug overdoses were killing more people every year than car accidents. Auto fatalities had been the leading cause of accidental death for decades until this (Quinones, 2015, p. …show more content…
The age group of 18 to 30 years old is known as the age group of initiation, but 74 percent started their substance abuse around 17 or younger. One third of the admitted people from 18-30 341 percent initiated between 15 to 17, another group initiated between the ages of 12 to 14, and the last group about 10.2 percent initiated at the age of 11 or younger (SAMHSA). Looking further I was able to find the average age, 34 years old, and only 28% of that being heroin addiction. All this data differs, but it has been tested that people who are slightly older are more likely to have a heroin addiction than a younger person who is most likely hooked on another opioid