When you come from a town with a high rate of heroin usage, you find it is a lot harder to talk about than it usually would be.

Most people don't know how to react when I say that I've lost good friends to heroin.

Yes, multiple people. Multiple friends. It surely is a tragedy; not only is it selfish to the victim but also to their friends and families. It creeps up silently without any warning and attacks and violates individuals you never thought it could ever touch. It is devastating in more ways than one, and catches people all the time by surprise. It certainly is no "hero"; it is a silent killer, and it is the infamous heroin.

The heroin epidemic in the state of New Jersey is real, and the number of lives lost to this calamity are staggeringly increasing. People are losing their loved ones every single day, and an exponential amount of people are being affected by this killer drug. I can speak from personal experience; it really isn't all that easy to say farewell to someone who clearly didn't quite deserve to leave yet.

Despite schools attempting to educate younger individuals on heroin and the repercussions that come with it, people still disregard the warnings and succumb to the drugs. Every year, new babies are born already addicted to opioids - "heroin babies" - who shake and vomit and cry from withdrawal. It is a sad sight to see, but it is not their fault. I have seen these "heroin babies" be stripped away from their mother and taken into a special care unit with dozens of other babies born addicted.

It's the war on drugs, and it's far from being over.

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