Opioids Persuasive Speech

When people think of drug abuse in America they usually think of a heroin addict stabbing a needle into their arm, but Americans often tend to overlook the opioid epidemic’s place in suburban atmospheres. St. Louis County ranks nearly four times the national average for heroin related deaths in the country, and at the center of this is Kirkwood. From the outside Kirkwood looks to be the perfectly stereotypical suburban neighborhood. However, this is not necessarily true. Kirkwood High School has received national media coverage due to multiple heroin related deaths in the high school since 2014. The school has taken active measures to prevent heroin abuse since the first death occurred, and since then they have had over 80 students reach …show more content…
This class of drug contains drugs like heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, fentanyl, etc. In most cases, opioids are prescribed by doctors as a short term pain reliever. Usually a person’s body can handle small doses of opioids without becoming addicted, but when people decide to abuse opioids their chances of becoming addicted are much greater. Most people are unaware of the toll abusing painkillers can take on your body. If a painkiller is not prescribed to you, it can have long term effects on your body including stomach bleeding, brain damage and liver failure. Opioid abuse can lead to severe overdose and death. Opioids are highly addictive due to its use as a pain reliever while also depressing emotions. Increased abuse of prescription opioids has correlated to an increase in the use of harder street drugs in areas that you wouldn’t except. Heroin use is among one of the most prevalent of these, “Heroin-related deaths increased 439% from 1999 to 2014” (Christensen, Hernandez). The large increase in heroin related deaths can be attributed to the 270% increase in the amount of opioid painkillers prescribed yearly in a 22 year time span