Dear future president,

In the United States there is a growing epidemic where teens and young adults are taking a dangerous drug called heroin. In the United States alone there is well over 750,000 people taking heroin and a lot of those people are dying from this drug, according to John Leland New York Times reporter . As American people it is our duty to take care of the future of this country and we need to start with the main problem at hand, Heroin.

In the article “Heroin abuse is a true public health crisis” by Deborah Daniels Indianapolis business journalist, former attorney, and president of the Sagamore Institute says “ The number of youths ages 12 to 17 trying heroin, and overdosing, is mind boggling.” She is telling us that kids as young as 12 years old are trying heroin and we need to start taking action before this becomes an epidemic. She also states “When I was a prosecutor, I thought the spread of addictive drugs was primarily a law enforcement problem. We had little authority to impact demand, and generally saw that as someone else's problem. Maybe when all you have is a hammer, the world looks like a nail.” She says that we all need to work together to stop this epidemic.

In the article “The fear of heroin is shooting up” by John Leland reporter for New York Times says “There are an estimated 500,000 to 750,000 heroin addicts in this country, a figure that has held steady for decades. But for the past five years, heroin use has been on the rise.” He also mentions “Last year 2.3 percent of eighth graders said they had tried heroin, nearly double the rate of 1991."Obviously this is not a runaway epidemic among teens," says Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan, who monitors adolescent drug use. "But it should give rise to some caution." This shows that the people addicted to heroin is rising and it's only going to get worse.

I believe there should be more drug rehabilitation programs, start funding programs that advertise on the dangers of heroin on kids and teens most watched tv channels like NCADA, and start funding drug prevention centers like NIDA (National Institute On Drug Abuse). This would start to prevent the use of heroin in teens and young adults.

Sincerely,

Hunter Brunelle

Queensbury, New York