There are very few “antidotes” when it comes to drugs. You drink too much booze and you can only snooze it off. However, the drug Narcan can completely sober up individuals who are over-dosing heroin or even OxyContin.

Victims of overdose given this drug, often by firefighters or other emergency personnel, recover within minutes. Usually it only takes a couple of squirts of Narcan up the nostrils to do the trick.

The drug, widely sold under its generic name, naloxone, counteracts the effects of heroin, OxyContin and other powerful painkillers and has been routinely used by ambulance crews and emergency rooms in the U.S. for decades. This as reported by the AP.

While only available to emergency personnel in the past, public health officials across the nation are distributing it to the public, specifically addicts and their loved ones.

It is estimated that such giveaways could save as many as 10,000 lives per year in the United States.

Those opposing the free distribution of Narcan think that it will keep more addicts from seeking help. I think that is total nonsense. It will save lives.

I think this is especially pertinent given the current situation with respect to drug addiction. Heroin overdose deaths in the U.S. nearly doubled over the last decade, from 1,725 in 1999 to 3,278 in 2009. During the same period, deadly overdoses from opiate-like drugs, including painkillers, have nearly quadrupled, from 4,030 to 15,597.

So how does Narcan work? It works by blocking certain drug receptors in the brain. It has no effect on alcohol or cocaine overdoses but can be used against such painkillers as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin.

The state of Massachusetts has spent $841,000 on Narcan this year and estimates it will save as many as 1,300 lives.

Does it work? Just look at New Mexico for proof.

In New Mexico, which has one of the highest drug overdose death rates in the country, health officials estimate the statewide naloxone distribution program that began in 2001 has counteracted 3,000 overdoses.

Do any of you think this is a bad idea? I f so, please share your thoughts with us. I think a quick wake-up from a near-death experience has the potential to shake any addict into sobriety!

Using illicit drugs while at war was certainly an issue during the Vietnam War. It appears to be a problem now in Afghanistan too.

In the past two years the US Army has investigated 56 soldiers for drug use and eight soldiers have overdosed during this time period. This according to the Daily Mail.

The U.S. Army says that while the presence of readily available opium - the raw ingredient for heroin - is a concern, opiate abuse has not been an extensive problem for troops in Afghanistan.

While the Army claims drugs are not a problem, the president of conservative watchdog Judicial Watch said the problem is bigger than the military is prepared to admit.

Statistics released earlier this year reported nearly 70,000 drug offenses by roughly 36,000 soldiers between 2006 and 2011. The number of offenses increased from about 9,400 in 2010 to about 11,200 in 2011.

With the extreme stress of the situation it is no wonder troops look to get high. But given the even more extreme danger they must stay at 100% in order to deal effectively with their situation.

It does not help that young Afghans peddling heroin, soldiers dying after mixing cocktails of opiates, troops stealing from medical bags and Afghan soldiers and police dealing drugs to their U.S. comrades.

Random drug testing on the troops may be the answer. The Army claims they aim to test each soldier once per year. While they are not living up to their goal now, they home to do so in the future.

I hate to see people committing virtual suicide. Given the extremely dangerous environment soldiers are playing with death if they get intoxicated. I would like to see the Army implement mandatory drug classes for all active-duty military personnel.

I think parents of every generation must think and say that “it is scary out there.” It seems like the drug and alcohol problems and the peer problems are worse now than they were when I was a kid. They seem much worse than in any time in my life.

My parents felt the same way about society when I was growing up. If this trend continues I hate to think about what it will be like when my grand-kids are growing up.

Back in my parents had to worry about booze and weed. The booze was usually low-alcohol beer and the weed benign by today’s standards.

Now kids are trying harder and harder drugs at younger and younger ages. Take the case involving a 14-year-old Anchorage, Alaska girl who overdosed after the man hosting a party injected her with heroin as reported by KTUU.com.

The word on the streets is that not only are a lot of young girls using drugs, they're using a wide variety of them.

The 14-year-old from this weekend's instance is still in critical condition after police say Sean Warner, 26, injected her with a very potent form of heroin, China-White, leaving her in very bad shape.

Paramedics found the girl face-down in her vomit. Police say she had meth, cocaine, and marijuana in her system, in addition to the heroin.

Again, a 14-year-old doing weed was the oddball in my childhood. My mom said in her day it was a 14-year-old smoking a cigarette. What will it be like a generation or two down the road? Think about that and then know we have to do something to stop the drug problems in our society. 

Pennsylvania is suffering from drug addiction. You could include all other 49 states in that assessment.

Philadelphia has started a program whose goal is to coordinate efforts of numerous government and community organizations in reducing the consequences of drug abuse on individuals, families and the community.

Drug abuse impacts the criminal justice system, law enforcement, treatment system and numerous other private and public organizations, especially individuals and families. These coalitions will give them an opportunity to focus efforts where they see the greatest need and impact. It will also enables them to get important information on drugs of abuse out to parents and the community through a comprehensive public relations and electronic media campaign.

Those involved in the effort include the Department of Jobs & Family Services, the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Department, ADAMHS board members, representatives of common pleas and municipal courts, Union Hospital emergency department management, Dover City Schools officials and people with families members who have addictions.

The type of drugs being abused is constantly changing. While marijuana, cocaine and heroin remain a problem, law enforcement have had to deal with newer ones as well, such as the recreational drug known as bath salts, which are scheduled to become illegal this month.

Providing information on new drugs will be one of the goals of the coalitions. While parents and teachers are the first line of defense against drug abuse, grandparents, coaches and neighbors need to be informed, as well. Anyone concerned about the welfare of a child has a responsibility to become educated on the subject.

I would like to hear what you have to say on this issue. Perhaps, if you come up with a good suggestion I will discuss it in my drug awareness class.

Over the course of this blog series on addictive drugs we have examined nine of the top 10 chemical substances with respect to use and addictive nature. Now we have come to the king of all addictive drugs – heroin. This is a drug that is so highly-addictive that a user can become addicted with just one use!

What is Heroin?

Heroin, also known as diamorphine or, especially in older literature, as morphine diacetate, is an opioid drug synthesized from morphine (is a legal pain reliever used in hospitals every day-very strong and also very addictive), which is a derivative of the opium poppy. The white crystalline form considered "pure heroin" is usually the hydrochloride salt.

Heroin is used as a recreational drug for the transcendent relaxation and intense euphoria it induces. Tolerance quickly develops, and users need more of the drug to achieve the same effects. Its popularity with recreational drug users, compared to morphine, reportedly stems from its perceived different effects. In particular, users report an intense rush, an acute transcendent state of euphoria.

It is Extremely Addictive!

Short-term addiction studies by the same researchers demonstrated that tolerance developed at a similar rate to both heroin and morphine. When compared to the opioids hydromorphone, fentanyl, oxycodone, and pethidine/meperidine, former addicts showed a strong preference for heroin and morphine, suggesting that heroin and morphine are particularly susceptible to abuse and addiction.

Morphine and heroin were also much more likely to produce euphoria and other positive subjective effects when compared to these other opioids.

An article in The Lancet compared the harm and addiction of 20 drugs, using a scale from 0 to 3 for physical addiction, psychological addiction, and pleasure to create a mean score for addiction. In this article, heroin was the #1 drug for addictive nature. It scored a 3.0 for both physical and psychological dependency, meaning it hits you from all angles. Again this drug is so addictive that just one use can cause addiction!

If there is a “poster-child” for addictive drugs to steer clear of – heroin is it!

Heroin should be avoided at all costs. There should never be any experimentation with this danger and highly-addictive chemical substance.

How many people do you know who are addicted to something? By that I don’t mean my friend who is addicted to refurbishing old motorcycles.  I am asking about people who addicted to a chemical substance.

Over the following weeks I will be writing a series of blogs on addictive drugs.  The series will begin with the least addictive and move on to the most addictive.  It will cover marijuana, alcohol and tobacco as well as cocaine, heroin, LSD, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and amphetamines.

One of the major underlying issues is that some people are more prone to addictive behavior.  Believe it or not, research has shown that people can be genetically pre-dispositioned to addictive behavior. 

Look at your parents. Are they addicts? If so, you stand a much greater chance of becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol yourself. That’s not to say that you will.  Of course if you never try a drug, you will never be addicted to it. 

But not all drugs are the same when it comes to being addictive.  I hope you enjoy the series.  As always I welcome your comments on anything we blog about here.  Too learn more about drugs and alcohol and their addictive qualities please take one of our in class or online drug classes.

Drugs have long been a problem in the clubs both overseas and here in America.  Now, reports are coming out that "Club drug" abuse in Britain is on the rise, as young people ditch cocaine and heroin for mephedrone and ketamine.

Club drugs are constantly re-invented to evade drug laws and have left healthcare professionals ill-equipped to deal with new trends in substance abuse. Patterns of drug use in the UK are changing and over the last two or three years we have continued to see an increase in the use of "club drugs”.

According to a British survey the number of 16-24 year olds who used the stimulant mephedrone last year was at a similar level to powder cocaine abuse - a figure of around 300,000 people.

Both of these drugs are banned in Britain, but there is a roaring trade for "legal highs" among the clubbing community and young professionals.

Kids are always seeking the next high, especially if it remains legal (like bath salts).  There are new drugs emerging all the time, particularly a group of substances known as "legal highs". The health risks associated with excessive use of club drugs are underestimated by many people and little is known about the potential problems of the newer drugs.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) recorded 41 new drug compounds in 2010 and 20 new compounds in the first four months of 2011.

The result is a lack of understanding about the drugs, and existing drug services that focus on alcohol, crack cocaine and heroin abuse are failing to cater for club drug addicts.

While more research on the potential dangers is of course warranted, first and foremost, these kids need to be made aware quickly that legal or not, these drugs are lethal. Perhaps a good online drug class is in order.