Heroin in the Heartland

"Bill Whitaker: I'm sure there are some who would be watching this and would say, 'Heroin addicts are junkies and they brought this on themselves, so why should we care?'

Tracy Morrison [nurse of 30 years, parent of two relapsing addicts]: 'Because we don't throw diabetics who sit on the couch eating Bon Bons and smoke and they weigh 300 pounds in prison. We don't belittle them, and there's not a big stigma. We don't do that to people that chain smoke and develop lung cancer. [Heroin addiction is] a chronic relapsing brain disease, period, amen, end of story, and we need to accept it-- even if it makes people uncomfortable. And if people don't like that, I'm sorry.'"

There's a perception problem in the USA -- where society seems content with only keeping problems "out of sight, out of mind" - that leads to less focus on rehabilitation.

I haven't had too many personal run-ins with drugs -- but opiates in prescription pill form were prevalent at my high school (between 2000-2004). Just last year though, out of nowhere, one of my best friends let his family and close buds know that he had become addicted to heroin. It had started with prescription pain killers.