Morgan County, W. Va., is experiencing an increase in heroin abuse and related overdoses, according to a recent article in The Morgan Messenger. Since the heroin overdose death of a 19-year-old in September 2008, authorities and young people throughout the county have been paying greater attention to the presence and dangers of heroin abuse.
Robert Dugan III, age 20 and a Morgan County resident, was interviewed for the article. Dugan commented on the mindset of many young people in the area: "You hear about an overdose and you think it's just one person, but it's not."
Dugan recalls being offered drugs all the time growing up, and avoiding them because he had made a deal with himself. But, as he got older, his motivation for staying away from drugs changed. "If you make it long enough without doing drugs, then it's just seeing the effects on people that made me stay away from them," he said.
Dugan recalls watching his friends sell their cars and radios to support their habits. He remembers how many of them also began missing work and lost their jobs, unable to stop doing heroin. "A lot of people I knew wanted to get off it. Nobody starts out saying I want to be addicted to heroin,'" Dugan said.
(Source: The Morgan Messenger)
Labels: heroin abuse, virginia
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