Heroins Price Drops; Use Soars Essay - 1447 Words

Heroins Price Drops; Use Soars BOSTON—Drug traffickers have figured out ways to import heroin to Boston that is so cheap and pure even 14-year-olds can get their hands on it. â€Å"It’s everywhere,† said Peter Curran, a Norwood Police Department detective and a member of the Norfolk County Police Anti-Crime task force. â€Å"Every town has it whether they recognize it or not. It has nothing to do with economics.† Since the heroin is so pure, it can be easily snorted; therefore, it is losing the stigma that was once associated with using a needle. Many people are trying it, especially teenagers, without realizing it is easy to become addicted. According to Thomas Mitchell, the Chief Probation Officer of the Norfolk County Juvenile Court, 10 to†¦show more content†¦Law enforcement officials believe that more females are selling heroin than males. What is more shocking is that a local eighth-grader told the Boston Globe that she believes that it is more likely that the girls trade the heroin for sexual favors, rather than sell it, according to the article entitled â€Å"Police, schools cite new threat in war on drugs.† Also, a sophomore at Norwood High School, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that students using heroin at her school get it by giving sexual favors. â€Å"I think that approximately 10 percent of the students at my school use heroin, and 7 percent of the students sell heroin,† she said. â€Å"These numbers have significantly jumped higher over the years.† According to Monitoring the Future, which is an ongoing study by the University of Michigan on teenager behaviors including drug use, statistics show that the amount of teenagers in the 10th and 12th grade using this drug increased approximately .25 percent from the year 2001 to 2002. Furthermore, when twelfth-graders were asked in 2002 about the availability of heroin, approximately 30 percent said that it was fairly or very easy to get. Teenagers do not realize how easy it is to become addicted to heroin. â€Å"Heroin builds a tolerance. It takes more and more to get high,† said Brooks. â€Å"It becomes an issue of an illness if they don’t do it.† According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, based in Maryland, heroin is a highly addictive drug and is a serious