Faces of drug addiction: Police mug shots show destructive effects of meth and oxycodone

Photos taken just a year apart show the rapid destructive force of drug addiction

Jessica Ware-Saturday 13 June 2015

Stark photos of people arrested before and after becoming addicted to drugs have been released as a warning about the physical effects on users.

Rehabilitation group Rehabs compiled the photos to raise awareness of what can happen when addiction takes hold. In the US alone, more than 1.6 million Americans were arrested on drug charges in 2010.

Around 4.5 million people in the US were classified as abusing or being dependent on illicit drugs in 2012, according to a government survey.

The people in the photos are users of cocaine, heroin or oxycodone – a prescription opioid. All can change a person’s physical appearance – which is documented candidly through police mug shots.

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