Drug Wars

In the last few years, drug abuse has become a rising epidemic in the state of Ohio.

Citizens everywhere have either heard of the issue or are directly affected by it. Heroin and Fentanyl are very common and dangerous drugs that are found everywhere in this state and are heavily used by far too many. With the countless deaths come even more steps taken to prevent these overdoses. The question is, are we doing too much to keep people safe?

The idea that preventing drug abuse just causes more problems is not a very popular or well-known one, but it exists nonetheless. This theory says that using medication or other substances to prevent drug-related casualties shows drug abusers that it is generally safe to use the drug, as there are other things that can counter the harmful effects. As of August 2017, 4,050 Ohio residents died of unintentional drug overdoses...Nearly a third of those deaths were in Northeast Ohio according to Laura Hancock from Cleveland.com. That was a 33% increase in deaths from 2016, and the year had not finished when this article was published. Why is this? Studies from the National Institute of Drug Abuse suggest that many people try drugs for the first time due to easy accessibility.

It is unknown exactly how many lives were saved due to First Responders in 2017, but one can guess that the number was high. Police reports from Newark Police Department confirm that at one point, there were four calls for heroin overdoses in one night. A series of doses of Narcan, which is a life-saving opioid, were given to these citizens of Newark. Narcan may be beneficial to addicts, but is costly for officials. Fox News says that the orders for Narcan from different cities cost between $25,000 and $100,000. Although Narcan is expensive, it has saved countless lives across the United States, so how can it be bad?

My theory is that when drug addicts see that they can be helped with drugs like Narcan, they are more motivated to use the drug. They likely see less of a reason to stop using the drug, because they see that serious harm can be prevented. If we start to limit what we do to save addicts who overdose, then the complete effects can be seen by the public. Everybody will see what drugs like Heroin and Fentanyl can have on the human body. This could work like other anti-drug advertisements, showing harmful side effects and why users should stop. The debate here is the morality of it. Should we save drug addicts because we can, or should we let them get sick or die to send a message to other abusers? I believe that allowing the deaths of a few is acceptable if it can stop the deaths of many others.

Drug usage has grown dramatically in the last few years, but only now do we have the ability to save the lives of those that overdose. Although it is humane to help these addicts, it is not clear whether or not this can be harmful in the long run. Could showing that we can prevent harm cause more of it? Do drug addicts now use the drug even more, knowing that they can be saved if they need to be? This idea has not been confirmed, nor has it been denied.