Heroin Information
Heroin is an 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 are safer. There are currently an estimated 166,000 heroin users in
the United States.
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."
Heroin abuse is associated with serious health conditions,
including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, collapsed veins, and,
particularly in users who inject the drug, 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. Heroin users often "nod
out" in 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.
With regular heroin use,
tolerance develops. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the
same intensity of 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 less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate
withdrawal.
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