Facts About…
Heroin
Type |
What
is it called? |
What
does it look like? |
How
is it used? |
Heroin
|
Smack,
Horse, Mud, Brown sugar, Junk, Black tar, and Big H |
White
to dark-brown powder or tarlike substance |
Injected,
smoked, or inhaled |
Codeine
|
Empirin
compound with codeine, Tylenol with codeine, Codeine in cough medicine |
Dark
liquid varying in thickness, capsules, tablets |
Taken
orally, injected |
Morphine
|
Pectoral
syrup |
White
crystals, hypodermic tablets, or injectable solutions |
Taken
orally, injected, or smoked |
Opium |
Paregoric,
Dover's Powder, Parepectolin |
Dark
brown chunks, powder |
Smoked,
eaten, or injected |
Meperidine |
Pethidine,
Demerol, Mepergan |
White
powder, solution, tablets |
Taken
orally, injected |
Other
narcotics |
Percocet,
Percodan, Tussionex, Fentanyl, Darvon, Talwin, and Lomotil |
Tablets
or capsules |
Taken
orally, injected |
Heroin is a narcotic derived from the opium poppy. Heroin was originally developed as a
substitute for morphine in an effort to deal with the addiction problem. However, it was
quickly recognized that heroin is even more addictive than morphine. As a result the drug
was made illegal. Produced in Mexico and Asia, heroin is reported to be widely available
throughout the U.S. At the street level, heroin is cut with a variety of
substances, leading to variation in purity over time and in different areas.
When injected, sniffed
or smoked, heroin binds with opiate receptors found in many regions of the brain. The
result is intense euphoria, often referred to as a rush. The rush lasts only briefly and
is followed by a couple of hours of a relaxed, contented state. In large doses, heroin can
reduce or eliminate respiration. Withdrawal symptoms include: nausea, dysphoria, muscle
aches, lacrimation or rhinorrhea, pupillary dilation, piloerection or sweating, diarrhea,
yawning, fever, and insomnia
Heroin is a highly
addictive drug, and its use is a serious problem in America. Recent studies suggest a
shift from injecting heroin to snorting or smoking because of increased purity and the
misconception that these forms of use will not lead to addiction.
Heroin is processed
from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of the Asian
poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder. Street names for heroin
include smack," H, skag, and junk. Other names may refer
to types of heroin produced in a specific geographical area, such as "Mexican black
tar."
Health Hazards
Heroin abuse is
associated with serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion,
collapsed veins, and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
The short-term effects
of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours. After an
injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria (rush)
accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following
this initial euphoria, the user goes on the nod, an alternately wakeful and drowsy
state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous
system. Long-term effects of heroin appear after repeated use for some period of time.
Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves,
abscesses, cellulitis, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types
of pneumonia, may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from
heroin's depressing effects on respiration.
In addition to the
effects of the drug itself, street heroin may have additives that do not readily dissolve
and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain.
This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs.
Tolerance,
Addiction, and Withdrawal
With regular heroin
use, tolerance develops. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same
intensity or effect. As higher doses are used over time, physical dependence and addiction
develop. With physical dependence, the body has adapted to the presence of the drug and
withdrawal symptoms may occur if use is reduced or stopped.
Withdrawal, which in
regular abusers may occur as early as a few hours after the last administration, produces
drug craving, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold
flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), kicking movements ("kicking the
habit"), and other symptoms. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours
after the last dose and subside after about a week. Sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent
users who are in poor health is occasionally fatal, although heroin withdrawal is
considered much less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate withdrawal.
G.B.U.
Steve
Recover from
chemical dependency as well as its toxic impact on family members. Raise your
children to choose to be alcohol and other drugs
free. Learn how
to in Dr. Frisch’s, Psy.D. Recovery book series—From Insanity to Serenity.
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