The Glamorization Of Heroin :: essays research papers

The Glamorization of heroin     Celebrities and popular culture in society have glamorized the deadly drug heroin today.     The status of heroin in the States today is that the drug is "in." Advertisements in magazines and television are displaying gaunt, extremely thin, glassy-eyed, pale faced models. This look of death is often found in Calvin Klein ads or scour in Packard-Bell commercials. For over three decades now, powerful role models from music to motion-picture shows have taken to heroin like pigs take to slop. The drug continues to be portrayed in a favorable light by the fashion, music, and entertainment industries. Mixed messages about heroin are everywhere from raccoon eyed models to songs such as "diacetylmorphine Girl" by Everclear. Rock musicians have created and celebrated a culture of heroin, and some have become role models in their death.     The use of heroin is change magnitude in a lmost every part of the United States. All age groups are wholly over the drug, including high school and middle school students. What doesnt dish is that the availability of heroin has increased as well. New sources and networks of distribution have been reported. The comeback of heroin is not only apparent in the inner cities it has been do its way to suburban life as well.     Another way to tell that the use of heroin is on the rise is by the number of emergency elbow room visits that deal with heroin users. In 1990 there was 33,000 emergency department visits nationally where heroin use was involved. By the year 1995 the number had more than doubled to 76,000. In the mid-1980s about ten percent of patient population was identified as being IV drug users. Now, the number is up to about twenty percent. (Source 4, Gabor Kelen, professor of Emergency Medicine in the School of Medicine and director of Hopkins Emergency room).     What ar e the causes of this heroin obsession? Some say it could Hollywoods apparent fascination with the drug. Heroin has been a theme in several recent movies. From Trainspotting, to The Basketball Diaries, and even greater hits like Pulp Fiction, heroin is the subject matter. People think that since the movie was so great, maybe their life will be great as well.     The "heroin chic" approach taken by photographers is another major cause. Also, all the media attention "heroin chic" gets by the press is a factor causing more people to notice the look of death trend. On may 21, 1997, President Bill Clinton addressed the U.