Claude Khalife, a junior majoring in international affairs, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
Two weeks after completing my freshman year at GW, I received news that a high school friend had overdosed on heroin.
The news about my friend hit me like a freight train. My brain quickly traveled through all the normal pit stops of anger, confusion and grief. At the end, I was left with one question: How could such a brilliant person, from what was by all accounts a well-educated, financially comfortable family, end up dying like this?
It’s a question that my peers, as well as GW and all universities, should be asking.
Although my friend’s passing made this issue personal for me, his memory should be more than just a statistic, or an example of the pitfalls of drug use. He was a kind, intelligent, gentle person. He made me laugh. And in many ways, his qualities reminded me of many of my friends at GW.
Heroin is no longer confined to the ill-educated and the impoverished. Heroin deaths nationwide nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Heroin has also become more plentiful than ever, especially following a federal crackdown on drugs like Oxycontin, the Washington Post reported. Many addicts start off with a prescription of legal painkillers and may move to heroin once their prescription runs out. And there has been a significant increase in the number of adults prescribed painkillers during emergency room visits, according to a study done last year by researchers in the School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
Although research at GW has clearly pointed to the risks that come with opioid prescriptions, it took some work to find a one-page fact sheet on GW’s drug prevention web site about the effects of heroin.
“GW’s Health Promotion and Prevention Services works to educate students about a wide variety of substances so that they may make informed and responsible decisions for their health and wellbeing,” Associate Director Alexis Janda said in an email. She also noted that students learn about drugs “through online resources, programs and in-person discussions.”
Meanwhile, the University’s official drug policy was given a “C” grade by the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, in part for a focus on punitive measures in lieu of treatment options for those struggling with addiction.
In the midst of this scary trend, let us strive to do more, educate more and learn more. GW can and should lead the way.
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