Put Down the Heroin

 Alright guys, let's be real. It is no secret that Naperville has become a hotspot for heroin use. Ranging from authorities to residents, the idea that an "epidemic" is happening in Naperville has become fairly common knowledge. (Read More) Naturally, given our location, much of this use has poured into North Central College as well. While you won't see the college advertising the high rate of usage, many professors here are not afraid to say that they would also agree that we are close to having a heroin epidemic of our own.

Aside from the obvious effects that heroin can have, people don't stop to think about how their drug use is effecting the environment. After all, Naperville is a healthy looking city which promotes environmentally friendly programs, and the same goes for North Central as well. So even if you were to think about any sort of fleeting connection between drugs and the environment, you probably wouldn't be quick to assume that something was wrong given your current surroundings. That is because while any environmental effects drug use may happen to have on your nearby surroundings is minor, something a lot bigger is occurring elsewhere.

 How do you think all of this heroin and other drugs are able to come into your possession? I'm pretty sure the stork didn't drop off some on your door step. No, they are coming from drug plantations in other poorer areas around the world. These plantations don't magically appear either. In the process of making these plantations, large acres of forest and land are destroyed to make room. But wait, they have to make sure they have a way to distribute their product. So they destroy even more of the environment to set up roads and other infrastructure for easier transportation. As the plantations start their processes, plenty of pesticides and fertilizers are used on the plants, which often run off to pollute waterways and forest areas. The mix of cultivation and run off pollution is linked to a even more problems such as land slides, flooding, erosion, and drought, which occur as an after effect.

The illegal opium farmer runs a good business for a while, but then he gets caught. Now what? Reinforcement arrives and they begin their process of eradicating all that is grown. A common method used is aerial eradication, in which chemicals are dropped from the sky. While it is an effective method of getting rid of opium plants, that means it is also effective in the surrounding areas, as this method is meant to have a wide range of coverage. As a result, nearby crops and forests become contaminated as well. Since many of these plantations are in poorer areas, the peasants who lived near the plantation and relied on their crops for food and income are left with contaminated goods and have to suffer even more. It also causes another kind of cycle. Animals in the area who feed on plants or fish are becoming sick due to the environmental contamination,  and then the people who rely on those animals as a food source run into problems as well.

As long as there remains a market for these drugs, this process will continue to repeat itself, leaving more and more environmental destruction. In the end, whether it is the environment or the people, nobody comes out a winner.

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