Chasing Heroin is a two-hour documentary that investigates the heroin crisis in America. The documentary details the opioid epidemic and how police tenders, social workers and public defenders are working to save the lives of addicts. The documentary explores the origins and ongoing causes behind the heroin epidemic such as; the massive increase in opioid painkillers since the turn of the century, Mexican drug cartels now entrenched in upper-middle class neighborhoods, and the low price of heroin compared to prescription painkillers. During Chasing Heroin a program in Seattle called LEAD is explored. This program funnels addicts into a system that directs them toward help (rehabilitation, temporary housing, counseling, methadone treatment) instead of prison time. The main idea that becomes the driving force of Chasing Heroin is that treatment is more effective than incarceration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The long history of doctors avoiding prescribing opioids for fear of addiction is mentioned several times in the documentary. Prior to the mid-1900s, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was created to tax those who manufactured, imported, or sold any derivative of opium or coca leaves. In the 1920s, doctors realized the highly dependent nature of opioids and began to avoid treating patients with them (Center, 2004). In 1924 heroin became illegal. However, according to a story published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2003, anesthesiologists opened “nerve block clinics” in the 1950s and 1960s to manage pain without having to resort to surgery (Meldrum, 2003). This push toward treating pain without surgery has been a major factor in the opioid epidemic we see today. In 2008 the overdose death rate was almost four times higher than in 1999, and sales of prescription painkillers in 2010 were four times higher than in 1999 (Paulozzi et al, 2011). The rate of admission to treatment for substance use disorder is also higher than in 1999, having been six times higher in 2009. Chasing heroin claims of fear of prescribing pain medications is correct as an increase in policies is seen public information on the use of opioids in the early years of life. 1900. Rising rates of overdose deaths and an increase in the number of people seeking treatment for addiction suggest that the fear of opioid prescribing was justified. Chasing Heroin presents the idea that methadone clinics are destroying neighborhoods because they cause an increase in the number of drug addicts in an area. However, one study compared the violent crime statistics of approximately 53 publicly funded treatment centers in Baltimore with 53 liquor stores. Areas around liquor stores were found to have more homicides, rapes, aggravated assaults, and robberies per business than areas surrounding drug treatment centers (Furr-Holden, et al., 2016). There was a 25% increase in violent crimes at liquor stores compared to treatment centers. These results show that increased activity in a location due to drug addicts receiving methadone and other treatments on a daily basis does not result in increased danger to the neighborhood. The hunt for heroin highlights the fact that people are dying in increasing numbers and painkillers have only made the problem worse. The documentary.