Heroin relapse statistics only paint a portion of the picture. When it comes to the crippling addiction thousands experience at the hands of heroin/opiates, nothing about it is pretty. The addiction rate is high. The consequences of prolonged heroin use are severe, often resulting in death. The symptoms for withdrawal are considered to be amongst the most brutal for all drug addictions.
And the relapse rate is one that on the surface, may not strike you as a very encouraging figure.
General Statistics of Heroin Relapse
These are some general statistics that should serve to give you a grounded view of heroin use. With the matter of heroin addiction statistics, heroin use statistics, and certainly with heroin relapse statistics, there are several other things that are worth considering:
1. The withdrawal symptoms for heroin can vary from one individual to the next. However, the general symptoms for those who try to go without heroin or opiates is pretty severe across the board. Some of the symptoms of heroin withdrawal include nausea, intense depression, vomiting, diarrhea, cold chills/sweats, insomnia, aching muscles, and much more.
2. The severity of withdrawal symptoms for heroin can be determined by a variety of factors. How long the individual has been using heroin is one of these factors. Whether or not the individual has ever gone through heroin/opiates withdrawal is another factor. A third factor can be how much heroin they were typically using in a given day or week.
3. The amount of money a heroin user will spend on their habit is another aspect to heroin addiction that can vary from one person to the next. However, on average, the more serious examples of heroin addicts can spend anywhere from 150 to 300 dollars a day on their habit. This is the point in which the heroin addict will typically do anything they possibly can to feed their habit.
4. The length of time in which an individual might experience withdrawal symptoms is something else that can vary, dependent upon a number of factors.
5. When someone stops using heroin/opiates, their brain suddenly begins to suffer from a lack of the chemicals that influence our capacity to be in a good mood or have energy. This fact is what frequently causes addicts to relapse within a year of completing a treatment program.
6. Over 90% of addicts in recovery relapse.
Understanding Heroin Use And Relapse
When it comes to understanding heroin relapse, it’s important to realize that simply looking at heroin relapse statistics is not going to give a well-rounded grasp of the problem of heroin addiction. There are a number of other facts and statistics on heroin use and addiction that must be kept in mind.
These essential facts will serve to illustrate the story of why heroin relapse is unfortunately prevalent amongst users in recovery.
Heroin Relapse Stats And More
The history of heroin use in the United States is one of fluctuation. Although the drug has been in use for decades upon decades, its popularity within the drug culture has ebbed and flowed considerably through the years. It achieved significant popularity in the 1990’s, and it has been a consistent problem in the health community ever since.
Learning about heroin relapse statistics is certainly important. However, in order to appreciate those stats, it is best to learn as much about heroin use and heroin addiction as you possibly can. Any study of these topics, in addition to the figures surrounding how many heroin addicts relapse, is bound to include the following pieces of information:
1. It is believed that at any given time, there are over two million individuals in the United States who are using heroin with any sort of regularity.
2. Of those two million (give or take a few thousand), it is believed that approximately two hundred thousand are using it to a degree that would technically qualify as habitual.
3. The vast majority of heroin users are under the age of thirty.
4. Although a vast majority of heroin users prefer to inject with a partner, most heroin users who have died from overdose are found by themselves.
5. Nearly 15% of all drug-related emergency room visits occur due to the use of heroin.
6. In a given year, there is an average of roughly eighty-thousand emergency room visits from those who are using heroin.
7. Several thousand people die each year from heroin use. For example, in one single year, there were well over four thousand deaths amongst heroin users. However, it’s worth mentioning that within that figure, the majority of the four thousand and change died from a combination of heroin with alcohol or additional drugs. Only a small portion (around 10%) died from heroin use alone.
8. South America and Mexico are the two primary countries in which heroin is exported to other parts of the world, such as the United States.