Teen Heroin Addiction: Implications for Prevention and Treatment

Posted on April 13, 2010

As if there isn’t already enough to worry about with teens and substance abuse, now the threat of teen heroin addiction seems to be raising its ugly head. Maybe you thought that heroin was a drug of the past, or that it only affects lower-class street population or hard-core criminal element – but you’d be wrong.

What Heroin is and How it is Used

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) describes heroin as an addictive drug that is processed from morphine and usually appears as a white or brown powder, or a black, sticky substance known as “black tar.” Street names include smack, ska, H, and junk. Heroin can be injected, inhaled, smoked or taken orally. Injected heroin accounts for the highest percentage of male and female users, with 43 percent of male and 56 percent of female users choosing this route of administration. Inhalation ranks next, with 36 percent of males and 27 percent of females. Smoking, oral, and other routes of administration account for 11 percent, 5 percent and 1 percent (female) and 12 percent, 8 percent, and 1 percent (male), respectively.

Parents Can Identify Signs of Heroin Use in Teens

Posted on June 20, 2009

We often hear of references to heroin use and the problems that can accompany an addiction. For parents who fear that their child may have ventured into this dangerous activity, it can be difficult to identify if they don’t know what signs to identify.

Newsday recently published a piece that examines the habits of a heroin user, signs of abuse and how to find treatment options. Jeffrey Reynolds, executive director of the Long Island Council on Addiction and Drug Dependence suggests that parents look for patterns in their child and go with their gut.