Last updated : November 11, 2024
A serious epidemic in Georgia is causing concern for law enforcement officials, parents, and teachers. There’s a drastic increase in the numbers of heroin users in Georgia, and it’s getting more prevalent in Atlanta, which wasn’t known to have a high number of heroin users in past years. The increase is reaching epidemic proportions.
One of the most alarming facts about the increase in heroin addiction in Atlanta and surrounding areas, is that it isn’t just a problem in the inner city. The incidence of drug related deaths from heroin use and the increase in drug trafficking is now happening more often in the suburbs.
Drug Related Deaths
The increase in heroin related deaths has been the highest in Fulton County, the county Atlanta is located in. In 2012, 24 people died in from heroin overdoses, and in 2013, 31 people died. According to the county medical examiner, 73 people have died from heroin overdoses since 2011.
The most common cause of drug related deaths is due to prescription pain medications, but heroin like other street drugs, is becoming more popular. One of the reasons that heroin use is increasing so drastically, is because it’s so easily accessible, even in the suburbs.
Easy Access to Heroin
Kids who live in suburban neighborhoods don’t go into the inner city to buy heroin because of the high crime rate, and it’s becoming a lot easier to find someone in a neighborhood nearby that sells it. A lot of dealers sell drugs from hotels in suburban neighborhoods, making it easy for high school and college students to buy heroin.
One of the main reasons that so many kids are using heroin, is that it’s cheaper to buy a single dose than it is to buy prescription pain drugs that are opiate-based. Some dealers sell the drug for less than $10 for one dose, making it very accessible.
An Alternative to Opiates
People who get addicted to opiates like Oxycodone, often start using heroin as an alternative when they can no longer afford the prescription drugs, or their doctor will no longer prescribe them. They choose heroin as their drug of choice to avoid nausea and other withdrawal symptoms.
The director of an addiction treatment center in Atlanta sated that when they opened, they were mainly treating people for alcohol, crack cocaine, or cocaine addictions, but recently they’re seeing more heroin addicts.
Georgia Heroin Testing Increases
Due to the epidemic use of heroin in the Atlanta area and surrounding suburbs, drug testing for heroin is also on the rise. Drug testing is routinely done in workplace environments, hospitals, and schools. Heroin testing can be done in a number of ways, according to the National Institute on Drub Abuse.
Some companies routinely do drug testing when hiring new employees. Random testing is also conducted by some companies. If an employee is suspected of using drugs, they may be tested. Following an accident, an employee may be taking prescription medication which could turn to heroin addiction, and employers will test them before they return to work.
