Heroin a growing threat

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

There are many words most parents do not want to hear in association with their children, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, methamphetamines and heroin.

Parents should be on guard so they can intervene quickly if their children are being exposed to these and other substances that can cause short- or long-term mental and physical problems.

Especially in the case of drugs such as meth and heroin, parents do not have much time to respond after use begins, as addiction can come rapidly. Many parents and others who interact with young people are likely to be aware of meth and its accessibility.

Heroin, however, is not so apt to be on their radar screens. But it is a substance they should add to their watch list.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Abigail Goldman, in a story that ran Monday, reported that this year Metro Police officers have already seized almost as much heroin as they did in all of 2008.

She wrote that police and drug treatment providers suspect that the increase in heroin seizures means the drug is being sold to a younger clientele — teens and young adults who have discovered that using heroin is cheaper and provides more highs than prescription painkillers.

Heroin begins as morphine that is extracted from seed pods found in opium poppy plants. Mike Flanigan, who runs the local Drug Enforcement Administration offices, told Goldman most of Nevada’s heroin comes from Mexico and is trafficked through California.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, a federal agency, reports that regular users of heroin develop a tolerance to the drug that drives them to use more of it as their addiction accelerates. The user is then subject to often fatal overdoses and severe damage to bodily organs, such as the heart, kidney, liver and brain.

The Clark County Coroner’s office reports that heroin has played a role in the deaths of 173 local residents since 2004, a statistic we hope catches everyone’s attention.