11/4/16

Dear Future President,

I am a concerned highschool student writing to cause awareness of the progressively increasing issue of teens using heroin and prescription drugs. This is a time sensitive and very important issue that needs to be dealt with soon because prescription drugs are found to lead to heroin use in the future, and heroin is becoming more popular than ever.

Studies have shown that prescription drugs (often called blues) will eventually lead to heroin use for most users. Heroin is a hard drug, and most people who use it don’t immediately start off with something so strong and potent. Most people who use heroin, first used prescription drugs. There have been studies that show that these easy to obtain and legal drugs are gateways to harder drugs, such as heroin. This is because prescription drugs are expensive. They are estimated to cost anywhere from $30-$70 per pill. Many of these have the same ingredients as heroin, which means there won’t be as many negative side effects from switching drugs. Many critics think that because users have already experienced prescription drugs, then heroin isn’t anything to worry about because their bodies are used to it. Heroin is a toxic drug, and unlike blues, they aren’t clean. Prescription drugs are clean and you know exactly what is in them because they have to be approved by the FDA. With heroin, you are taking something you don’t know the ingredients of and putting it into your body. You put your life in the hands of whoever illegally crafted that drug. In addition to that, even more potent heroin has recently been smuggled over the border from Mexico. This demonstrates that prescription drugs leading to heroin is life threatening and a serious problem.

In addition to prescription drugs leading to heroin use, heroin alone has become more popular. This has partially to do with the fact that blues lead to heroin use, but there are other factors as well. Heroin is cheap. It only costs around $5 per hit, making it extremely popular amongst teens who may not be able to afford more expensive drugs. Also, recently heroin has been made smokeable. This eliminates the needle that scares away many first time users. All of these things has increased the availability of heroin. It is more accessible than ever. One may argue that heroin use isn’t any more of an issue now than it has been before, however this is not true. Studies have shown that along with increasing accessibility, heroin is now more lethal. The cheap price, increasing availability, and heroin becoming more lethal proves to be a deadly combo. More and more teens have been becoming addicted to heroin because of its high potency and it being easy to use and obtain. 

Heroin is more dangerous than ever, partly because of prescription drugs. Prescription drugs are leading teens to heroin, which has become extremely more dangerous and accessible. Ending drug use will improve the quality of life for everyone. Drugs change people for the worst. They make young teens throw their lives away at such an early age. One way to end this problem is to put an end to the heroin being imported from Mexico. This is only a first step, but will help exponentially in the fight against drugs.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Student