Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation in Long Island Research Paper

Drug Abuse in Long Island, New York

With more than seven and a half million residents, Long Island, New York is a major center of commerce and education, but like many other densely populated large urban centers, this city also has a significant drug abuse problem. To determine the facts about the problem, this paper reviews the relevant literature to provide epidemiological evidence concerning the incidence of drug abuse in Long Island, and what community-based resources are available to its resident. Finally, a review of a recent research study article concerning these issues is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning drug abuse in Long Island in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

Epidemiological evidence concerning drug abuse in Long Island

Like many other major American urban centers, all types of drugs are abuse in Long Island, but heroin abuse in particular has become a serious problem in recent years (Berke & Harlow, 2014). For instance, a report from CNN emphasizes that, "Heroin use has exploded in what is being described as an epidemic on New York's Long Island, where addiction counselors are seeing users as young as 12 -- many from middle-class, suburban families" (Berke & Harlow, 2014, para. 4). A number of factors have been cited as being responsible for this dramatic increase in heroin abuse, including most especially Long Island's close access to major airports and other transportation hubs as well as a push by New York State authorities to combat rising prescription medication abuse which caused many drug abusers to turn to the illicit alternatives which are more readily available and less expensive (Berke & Harlow, 2014).

It is important to note, however, that prescription drug abuse still remains a serious problem in Long Island despite the state-wide "iStop" crackdown by law enforcement authorities (Suburban heroin, 2017). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, on Long Island, "Abuse of prescription painkillers such as Vicodin, Roxicodone and OxyContin, has increased 33% in 5 years" (Suburban heroin, 2017). Not surprisingly, heroin overdose deaths on Long Island have also increased dramatically for residents aged 15 to 24 years and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports that arrests for heroin in Long Island increased 163% in 2013 (Berke & Harlow, 2014).

More recently, however, a synthetic opioid prescription painkiller, fentanyl, has even outpaced heroin abuse in Long Island. Fentanyl, a painkiller for patients with cancer and other extremely painful conditions, is about 100 times as powerful as morphine, is expected to cause at least 200 deaths in Long Island's Suffolk and Nassau counties in 2016, and it is expected that it will cause at least 1,000 deaths state-wide each year, an unprecedented level of drug-related deaths in the state's history (Deutsch, 2016). This drug is so lethal that even a small amount can cause death and law enforcement authorities must take precautions when they handle even tiny amounts of fentanyl (Deutsch, 2016). In addition, according to Deutsch, "On Long Island, America's most densely populated suburban region, opioids of all kinds killed at least 464 people in 2016, the medical examiners' records show. Hundreds of additional drug overdose analyses are pending" (2016, para. 4).

Community-based referral resources

Although the increase in heroin abuse in Long Island has resulted in…