The image of a heroin user as a skinny junkie, hanging out in an abandoned building with other users after they get their fix, is a far cry from the typical suburban heroin user, “who can be an A student,” said Barbieri.
“The profile is young, white and middle class,” said Dr. Constantine Ioannou, vice chairman of the psychology department at Nassau University Medical Center. “These kids have jobs, go to school and have lives.”
“These addicts are between 17 and 27 and begin using painkillers after surgery or because of availability,” said Pamela Mizzi, director of prevention resources at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville.
Opiates are drugs which containing opium or its derivatives slow the activity of the central nervous system, Mizzi explained. Opiates reduce pain and induce sleep.
“Let’s say you have a sports injury and need two to three days’ worth of painkillers, but have a 30-day supply,” she said. “You begin to use it recreationally.”
Barbieri told residents to be keep in mind that kids start by using “old medications from your medicine chest. They start with Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin and then move on to heroin. It’s cheap — $6 or $8 a bag.”

A progressive addiction

People “start abusing cannabis, and at some point they’re introduced to pain meds,” said Ioannou. From there, the addiction progresses.
“No one starts out using heroin,” said Mizzi. “You begin with pills. You pop a pill and it’s easy. But the transition from pill use to IV use is almost inevitable. It just makes economic sense, because the pills are so expensive. Heroin is cheaper than a pack of cigarettes.”

This is your brain on drugs