Two very important people in my life have suffered from severe heroin addiction. One of these people is Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the other is one of my best friends from back home, Kevin, who is actually still in rehab. The Red Hot Chili Peppers hit so close to home for me. I grew up listening to them and I’m still probably their number one fan :p. After I read Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, I learned the danger of heroin and the addiction to it and it was absolutely terrifying. To know that someone who had influenced my life so much was in so much pain hurt me. In fact, “Under the Bridge”, a song about his addiction, is one of my favorite songs and I tend to live by the words of it. Then, when I found out that Kevin was in rehab for heroin, I completely lost it. Now, the drug that stops heroin death, Naloxone, is increasing in price. The price has gone up from $22 to $40, and although this may not seem like a huge deal for many people, tons of people are unable to pull out a casual 40 bucks to save their life. Although Naloxene is only a temporary fix to heroin use and addiction, this price increase poses a problem in that it decreases access. Some may say that this enables the drug users but the drug can only be administered by trained medical professionals and police officers, and as soon as they recover, they would most likely be placed into a treatment program, where they could be given a more permanent treatment plan. As someone who has seen someone suffer from heroin addiction first hand, this life-saving drug shouldn’t be priced the way it is. If it has the ability to save lives, it shouldn’t be so difficult to access.