There is no denying heroin has infiltrated all areas of the country and all levels of society and that its emergence is traced back to misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers. As this research has noted, narcotic painkillers are similar to heroin, both are opioids, and they act in similar ways in the brain, producing the same kind of euphoria and lead to the same devastating addiction. Consequently, drug dealers provided heroin as the cheaper alternative for prescription opioid addicts desperate for the next fix. Heroin is cheaper and easier to find than pain pills, so addicts naturally turned to this illegal drug to fuel their dependency. As such, drug cartels seized an opportunity to meet the demand with supplies of cheap heroin
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Monteith shattered the image of a heroin user – he was young, successful, and handsome – and brought the truth of the epidemic into the media spotlight. Monteith’s death seemed to begin a discussion that allowed families struggling with their non-stereotypical heroin abuser to come forward and shed light on the issue. News articles discussing the opioid epidemic begin rising after Monteith’s death, many of the headlines include ones such as “Opening up on teen drug abuse”, a story about the mother of a promising young Boston College nursing student who overdosed on heroin that now speaks at forums addressing the dangers of prescription narcotics abuse and heroin. However, the coverage of Monteith paled in comparison to the media storm in the wake of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death in February of 2014 when we saw a 139% increase in the number of news stories relating to the opioid epidemic. Stories filled the newspapers and television broadcast of how people were shocked to learn Hoffman used heroin, and again attention was given to the stereotype associated with heroin and Hoffman’s distance from that stereotype. The year of Hoffman’s death appeared to change how society viewed opioid pain pills and how state policy makers responded to the ever apparent
Monteith shattered the image of a heroin user – he was young, successful, and handsome – and brought the truth of the epidemic into the media spotlight. Monteith’s death seemed to begin a discussion that allowed families struggling with their non-stereotypical heroin abuser to come forward and shed light on the issue. News articles discussing the opioid epidemic begin rising after Monteith’s death, many of the headlines include ones such as “Opening up on teen drug abuse”, a story about the mother of a promising young Boston College nursing student who overdosed on heroin that now speaks at forums addressing the dangers of prescription narcotics abuse and heroin. However, the coverage of Monteith paled in comparison to the media storm in the wake of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death in February of 2014 when we saw a 139% increase in the number of news stories relating to the opioid epidemic. Stories filled the newspapers and television broadcast of how people were shocked to learn Hoffman used heroin, and again attention was given to the stereotype associated with heroin and Hoffman’s distance from that stereotype. The year of Hoffman’s death appeared to change how society viewed opioid pain pills and how state policy makers responded to the ever apparent