“Have you ever done heroin, Maya?” Eric asked me.   

“No, I haven’t,” I replied.   

“The best way to describe heroin would be…have you ever been kissed by God?”    

It’s a common story that starts with a broken bone or wisdom teeth surgery. Then comes the prescription for OxyContin. The pain goes away, but the unexplainable desire for the pill is still there. With pharmacies cracking down, it becomes harder to get a prescription. At $30 to $80 a pop on the black market, the habit becomes too expensive and difficult to maintain. Meanwhile, a hit of heroin can go for just $10. That is how the all-star high school cheerleader, the local realtor, the God-fearing church leader, the elderly grandmother, the valedictorian, and the cousin, become heroin addicts. The stereotypical concept of a “junkie” who was born into poverty and drugs is no more. Heroin is injected into the veins of the educated, wealthy, and religious. Our nation is plummeting into heroin crisis, if not already there. 

Eric was one of those kids that were destined for greatness. He was born in Connecticut to an upper-middle class family. His family moved to California when he was 10, and finally to Arizona, where he spent his successful high school and college careers. He graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at his high school with a 4.3 GPA and Prom King under his belt, and continued on to Arizona State University for marketing, where he graduated early and with two degrees. Eric was an overachiever. While accomplishing all of these things, he was also supporting an opioid addiction.   

On Eric’s 19th birthday, his friend introduced him to OxyContin. The truth is, once you become addicted to a prescription opioid, you will do anything to get your substance. OxyContin becomes expensive and hard to get when you are taking 10 a day. When someone has another option for you, your body cries out for you to take it. So you do. “When you're in withdrawal, your mindset is that there’s no stigma with heroin. A cheaper, more available, more powerful solution [than OxyContin] is the one you are looking for,” Eric explained. Sitting here now, it’s hard to imagine going from taking a pill (at least initially) prescribed by a doctor, to injecting heroin. However, the potential for dependence of opioids is high enough that it is becoming increasingly common for prescription pain pill users to become addicted, leading them to obtain whatever drug will prevent them from going into painful and dangerous withdrawal. At this point, users have crossed what Eric calls the “invisible line”, where “by the time you realize you have a problem, it’s already too late- the using is progressive and the behavior [associated with using] is progressive”.

After the highly publicized deaths of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cory Monteith, media outlets such as RollingStonebrought our attention to a “New Face of Heroin”, the face of someone who you wouldn’t expect to wind up overdosing. That old face doesn’t exist anymore. In this era, there is no one face. The intense reactions caused in an individual when they use heroin, as well as the speed at which the drug reaches the brain, are factors in its high risk for dependence. There is instant gratification; once injected, smoked, or snorted, the individual begins to immediately feel relaxation, pleasure, and less pain. The intake of heroin essentially makes you feel really good- at least in the moment. The receptors in the brain that are impacted by heroin also happen to be located where respiration and blood pressure are controlled. Ezra Kaplan, who has worked extensively in the addiction field, revealed, “Heroin addiction is a special case because it is so acutely fatal. People are dying around the country at alarming rates as a result of opioid overdoses.” The way that people die from heroin is simple. They stop breathing. 

Fortunately, Eric’s story doesn’t end that way. He does not remember a lot from the time he was using, and no one could have talked him out of it because he was not going to listen. “I thought it was a phase…but the grip is a whole lot tighter. It gets a hold of you in a way nothing else does. As far as changing your perception of life, you think reality is changing, but reality goes on without you”. He was 22 and set to marry a woman he also had built a business with. Then he was alone, living in his car, and, as an IV user, contracted Hepatitis C. His parents ultimately intervened and he was placed in a treatment center in Prescott, Arizona that followed a 12 Step program. On November 16, 2011, Eric was finally sober.

Today, Eric works for a drug and alcohol treatment center in Prescott, on the flip side of where he was just a few years ago. “Deep down I really don’t know why I used- it goes back to this chronic case of not-good-enough,” he reflected. 

Eric’s story is the nation’s story, which is one that needs to be recognized by consumers, caregivers, and lawmakers. OxyContin is a Schedule II drug, meaning that the Food and Drug Administration has recognized that it has a high potential for abuse and may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Heroin is a Schedule I substance, and many would consider it to be the single most dangerous drug. When doctors prescribe pain medications, they need to be cognizant of the risks. If they think a patient is developing dependence, they should wean the patient off of the drug instead of cutting them off. The danger comes when a doctor cuts off a patient who is addicted, and the patient will do anything to get their hands on a substance that will prevent the withdrawal, just as Eric described. On the other side, as consumers we must be aware of what we are putting into our bodies and our brains. Kaplan expressed “it is my opinion that there are two things needed to address the opioid problem specifically. First, a national prescription drug-monitoring program that protects doctors by increasing communication and prevents patients from doctor shopping, or going to different doctors to get more prescriptions for dangerous narcotics. Second, congress needs to lift the ban on the use of federal funding for naloxone programs.” 

So where do we begin? There are towns where everyone knows somebody who has been touched by the effects of heroin. This heroin “epidemic” is real. “If we as a society, especially lawmakers and policy deciders, can begin to take the same comprehensive, medical, non-judgmental approach to addiction that we have adopted with [diseases such as] diabetes, we will be well on our way to not only helping those who are addicted to heroin, but to helping people suffering from all manners of addictions,” Kaplan explained. I think we need to recognize how easy it is to get hooked on opioids, and once that happens, a drug as dangerous as heroin is not as far as you think it would be. My point is, as evidenced by Eric, this really can happen to anyone. Let’s start small- by being aware. 

Special thanks to Eric A. for sharing his story 

*Naloxone is an overdose reversal drug that can save a person's life if they are suffering from an opioid overdose

If you or a friend needs help, check out these resources: Alcoholics Anonymous: http://www.aa.org 

Narcotics Anonymous: http://www.na.org 

Heroin Anonymous: http://www.heroinanonymous.org

Treatment Facilities: http://www.thebridgesnetwork.com