Heroin addiction treatment

Heroin Treatment in New York

New York has a serious heroin problem. Most of the heroin is South American; however, Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin also in circulation. Black Tar and brown powdered heroin are sparsely distributed. The state of New York and New York City are a primary transportation hub and distribution center for large amounts of heroin coming into North America.

There are high levels of heroin abuse New York State. All of the gathered TEDS data indicate that the number of heroin-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the State of New York increased steadily from 29,279 in 1997 to 35,314 in the 2001 calendar year. Surprisingly, Heroin-related treatment admissions surpassed cocaine-related treatment admission in the year of 2001. The exact figures of heroin related treatment admissions per 100,000 population in New York (199) dramatically exceeded the number per 100,000 population density nationwide (105) in 1999, the most recent year for which these information has been documented.

There are frequent heroin related deaths in New York state; however, it is rarely the only factor in the death. Taken from DAWN mortality data, in 2000 there were 194 heroin-related deaths in the New York City metropolitan area. Surprisingly, only one of these deaths involved heroin alone, and no deaths were heroin-induced (heroin was the sole cause of death).

Heroin addiction treatment depends upon the severity of the addiction and the motivation of the addict. Some abusers may come into heroin addiction treatment voluntarily and have the support of their family, friends, and workplace; others may be sent to heroin addiction program by the courts system against their will and have virtually no support system. Recovery from heroin addiction is possible for both scenarios if the person applies the knowledge they learn to their life once they have left the treatment.

Detoxification is only the first stage of the addiction treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug habit. Detoxification safely manages the acute physical symptoms of withdrawal that are associated with discontinuing the drug use. While detoxification alone is never sufficient to help addicts achieve long-term abstinence, for some people it is a strongly indicated precursor to effective heroin addiction treatment.