In a speech this week at the University of Kentucky , US Attorney General Loretta Lynch explained that heroin nut across the country are more likely to have started out using prescription medicine painkillers than marijuana . While this does not mean that anyone who uses these medications mechanically faces the risk of becoming hooked on street drugs , it does spotlight the point that just because a kernel is legal , itdoesn’t entail it ’s completely harmless .
Many ethical drug painkillers containopioids , which bind to the opiate receptors in the central nervous system in parliamentary law to reduce feelings of discomfort . When take in appropriate State they are generally safe , although people whoabuse these chemicalscan establish up a tolerance to their effects , which can quickly lead to addiction .
According to Lynch , those who spring up this sort of problematic prescription drug use often move on to street drug in their pursuit to satisfy their increasingly insatiable cravings . “ When we talk about heroin addiction , we normally , as we have mentioned , are talking about individuals that started out with a prescription drug drug trouble , and then because they need more and more , they turn to heroin , ” she explained .
Yet while some youngsters who experiment with marijuana may also go on to try other illicit substances , on the whole it does not seem to be the case thatcannabisnecessarily acts as agateway drug . “ In so many cases , it is n’t trafficking rings that introduce a person to opioids . It ’s the home medicine console . That ’s the source , ” Lynch continue .
A rise eubstance of scientific enquiry back up this claim , with one recentstudyrevealing that more than 50 percent of women being address for opioid addiction in Ontario , Canada , first come into link with opioid - based substances via prescription medicine drugs .
Rates of opioid - relatedoverdose deathsare currently spiraling out of ascendance in the US , to the extent that the mortality for white Americans between the long time of 25 and 34 is actually rising , in spite of overall improvements in healthcare and general wellbeing . These fatalities are being due to a compounding of street drugs like heroin and prescription drugs that contain morphine , oxycodone , and other opioids .
