l world, no one would be addicted to drugs. However, that is not the world we all live in.
Since 2001, the number of deaths from heroin overdose has seen a staggering increase. In 2014, more than 10,000 people died from a heroin overdose in the United States, when in 2001 that number was fewer than 2,000, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Heroin has been an epidemic that has affected people all over the country for decades. New York state is no exception.
“In 2000, the New York State Legislature changed the Public Health Law to authorize a demonstration program to expand access to sterile hypodermic needles and syringes,” according to the New York State Department of Health website.
The state claims that this was a public health step to prevent diseases users can contract by using a dirty needle. HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are some of those blood-borne illnesses the department was trying to combat.
In associate news editor Marissa Russo’s story, “Alliance fights heroin overdoses,” she discovers the ways in which the North Country and the Alliance for Positive Health are fighting for the lives of people who are addicted to these life-taking drugs.
The Alliance, located on Cornelia Street, offers a syringe exchange program to its patients, according to the article.
“The program helps patients suffering from drug addiction or chronic illness receive clean medical supplies in order to prevent disease caused by dirty needles,” the article states.
Organizations like the Alliance aren’t advocating for drug use. They are trying to help those people from contracting diseases on top of their addiction.
It’s the same as a sex educator telling their class, “You should use a condom and play it safe.”
Nobody can stop an addict from using but themselves, but they should play it safe if they are.