Heroin Abuse of Parents in the US: How Do Kids With Drug Addict Parents Cope?

A controversial unfamiliar family picture has circulated in the internet since Friday, Sept. 9 and became so viral because of the disturbing portrait of how a four-year-old child suffers under the custody of his own drug addict parents. Rhonda Pasek and James Acord, the parents of the young boy, were pulled over their Ford Explorer at Liverpool Ohio, when the police officers saw them still high on heroin while the poor kid was sitting at the backseat, confused and clueless about what he should do. The child is under the custody of the government now while the parents are behind the bars. The question now is, how do kids like this young boy cope with such a life?

Police officers, like those from Ohio, are facing multiple cases of heroin overdose in many parents and such posting of the images of Pasek and Acord was a way to let the community know the reality of this problem, DailyMail reported. There were approximately "3,000 unintentional drug overdoses last year, at an average of eight per day," according to the report.

When parents get high on heroin or other drugs, the kids suffer. Child neglect or child abuse are often high in many cases for a family where drug abuse is present. According to a study published in Narconon, most of these kids are more likely to grow up as criminals or drug addicts as well.

There is a great need to raise support for local children and family centers, whereas a safe environment and supportive care for children are being provided. There must be a "demand drug education" in all schools and that drug prevention should start at home. These are among the proposal of the Child Welfare Organization.

There are roughly 13.5 million people in the world taking opioids (opium-like substances) and 9.2 million of these use heroin, according to drugfreeworld. There are almost a million Americans aged 12 or older in America who used heroin at least once in their lives and 23 percent of individuals become dependent on heroin, based on the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) statistics. The world should have mercy on the kids.