These two drugs bleed the world more than any other for very different reasons. It's a slow, painful death that deprives individuals of choice and diverts billions of dollars to drug suppliers. There are many drugs available in every neighborhood. They are all around us, varying in dependency, mortality and availability. The two most harmful to society and the individual are readily available despite decades of efforts by the United States and every other nation in the world. A 16-year-old can get heroin or crack more easily than alcohol or cigarettes because dealers don't identify and often deliver (Drug Crazy, Mike Gray) Heroin and most opiates are derived from the poppy plant Papaver somniferum. Showing a beautiful flower when in full bloom. Opium is the sticky tarry substance produced inside the pods of these plants. (dorsman 1998) the opium poppy has been cultivated for use in various medicinal preparations for 6,000 years. (dorsman 1998) Heroin was first synthesized from morphine in 1898 by the Bayer company in Germany. It takes its name from the German heroisch which means powerful. This semi-synthetic enters the brain faster than morphine because chemically it is more soluble in fats. Once in the brain it turns back into morphine. (dorsman1998) Heroin comes into our homes from all over the world. At one point Turkey was a major distribution company for white powdered heroin into the United States through the infamous “French Connection” and when that ended other countries took over to fill this void. the golden triangle: Loas, Mynamar and Thailand now fed American heroin along with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Along with Central Asia, the nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The purity of heroin increases… half of the paper… it is the placental barrier in the fetus that causes what is known as fetal alcohol syndrome. (fields) When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy she risks giving birth to a child who will pay the price in mental and physical deficiencies throughout her life (kids Health.org) Ethanol is the most widely used psychoactive drug known to humanity (fields) Alcohol is devastating to the body, the community and the world economically. Works Cited Robert J. MaCcoun and Peter Reuter (2001) Drug War Heresies Learning from Other Vices, Times and Places; Cambridge University Press Union. Cambridge, UK Jerry Dorsman (1998) How to Quit Drugs a Complete Self-Help Guide; Three Rivers Print. New York, New York Feilds R. (2013) Drugs in perspective. New York, NY McGraw-HillKidshealth.orgAmsden. Rollingstone magazine