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Hallucinogen Addiction Drug
Rehab
Hallucinogen Background
Information
Heroin was first synthesized in 1874 from morphine,
a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of certain
varieties of poppy plants. It was commercially marketed in 1898 as a new pain
remedy and became widely used in medicine in the early 1900s until it became a
controlled substance in 1914 under the Harrison Narcotic Act. Heroin is a
highly addictive drug and is considered the most abused and most rapidly acting
opiate.
Heroin comes in various forms, but pure heroin is a white
powder with a bitter taste. Most illicit heroin comes in powder form in colors
ranging from white to dark brown. The colors are due to the impurities left
from the manufacturing process or the presence of additives. “Black
tar” is another form of heroin that resembles roofing tar or is hard like
coal. Color varies from dark brown to black.
Effects
of Heroin
Heroin can be injected, smoked, or snorted.
Intravenous injection produces the greatest intensity and most rapid onset of
euphoria. Effects are felt in 7 to 8 seconds. Even though effects for sniffing
or smoking develop more slowly, beginning in 10 to 15 minutes, sniffing or
smoking heroin has increased in popularity because of the availability of
high-purity heroin and the fear of sharing needles. Also, users tend to
mistakenly believe that sniffing or smoking heroin will not lead to addiction.
After ingestion, heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. While in the
brain, heroin converts to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. Users
tend to report feeling a “rush” or a surge of pleasurable sensations.
The feeling varies in intensity depending on how much of the drug was ingested
and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid
receptors. The rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry
mouth, and a heavy feeling in the user’s arms and legs. The user may also
experience nausea, vomiting, and severe itching. Following the initial effects,
the user will be drowsy for several hours with clouded mental function and slow
cardiac function. Breathing is slowed, possibly to the point of death.
Repeated heroin use produces tolerance and physical dependence.
Physical dependence causes the user’s body to adapt to the presence of the
drug and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced. Withdrawal symptoms begin
within a few hours of last use and can include restlessness, muscle and bone
pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and
involuntary leg movements. These symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after
the last dose and subside after about a week, but may persist for up to a
month. Heroin withdrawal is not usually fatal in an otherwise healthy adult,
but can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.
Consequences Of Heroin Use
Chronic heroin use can lead
to medical consequences such as scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial
infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses and other
soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Poor health conditions and
depressed respiration from heroin use can cause lung complications, including
various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis.
Addiction is the most
detrimental long-term effect of heroin use because it is a chronic, relapsing
disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, as well as
neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain.
Long-term effects of
heroin use also can include arthritis and other rheumatologic problems and
infection of bloodborne pathogens such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C (which
are contracted by sharing and reusing syringes and other injection
paraphernalia). It is estimated that injection drug use has been a factor in
onethird of all HIV and more than half of all hepatitis C cases in the United
States.
Heroin use by a pregnant woman can result in a miscarriage or
premature delivery. Heroin exposure in utero can increase a newborns’ risk
of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
Street heroin is often cut with
substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, strychnine and other poisons,
and other drugs. These additives may not dissolve when injected in a
user’s system and can clog the blood vessels that lead to the lungs,
liver, kidneys, or brain, infecting or killing patches of cells in vital
organs. In addition, many users do not know their heroin’s actual strength
or its true contents and are at an elevated risk of overdose or death.
According to Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) emergency department
(ED) data, there were 93,064 reported mentions of heroin in 2001, an increase
of 47.4% since 1994 (see table 2). Preliminary ED data for the first half of
2002 revealed that there were 42,571 mentions of heroin. A drug mention refers
to a substance that was recorded (mentioned) during a visit to the ED. Heroin
represented 15% of 638,484 total ED episodes in 2001. Approximately 56% of
heroin ED mentions were for people ages 35 and older. Almost half (43%) of
heroin ED mentions were for whites.
According to DAWN’s 2001
mortality data, of the 42 metropolitan areas studied, 19 areas saw a decrease
in the number of heroin/morphine mentions, while 9 areas reported an increase
in heroin/morphine mentions. |
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