'Pills To Heroin' Film Aims To Prevent Students From Becoming Addicted
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Heroin is no longer a problem in the dark alleys of urban areas. It has spread to the cul-de-sacs of suburbia.
And as CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported, a powerful new film is trying to reach young people before they become addicted.
You can watch the entire film below:
Also: NYPD Expands Use Of Anti-Overdose Drug On Staten Island To Fight Heroin Problem
The movie is called "Pills to Heroin" and it is being shown in Somerset and Hunterdon County schools in New Jersey. It features many young people who describe their transition from prescription pills to heroin, as well as their parents.
"Pain pills are prescription heroin," Lesley Gabel of the Safe Coalition Project said. The Safe Communities Coalition of Hunterdon and Somerset produced the movie. "It is the same regions of the brain as far as how addictions occur."
The people in the film are all locals, including one woman who said her heroin use began after knee surgery.
"I would have heroin delivered to the hospital. I would shoot the drugs right into my neck," one woman said in the film.
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III said the Tri-State Area is ground zero for the heroin epidemic. The reason, he said, is that heroin is cheap and easily available.
"It's all imported. It's coming through our ports," Kearns said.
The young people who appeared in the video also said heroin was easy to come by.
"I know in high school if you were looking for something, you could – if I didn't know a personal drug dealer, all I had to do was call a couple of people," one woman said in the film.
CBS 2 showed the film to some high school students.
"It's just really depressing," one student said.
"That video should definitely be shown in high schools, because you know, it's good to, like, just know the information," said Chatham High School senior Adriana Garrison.
For an idea of how big a problem heroin is around the region, two people were arrested in Orange County Thursday – accused of possessing a large quantity of heroin.
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