Info about Heroin

Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is extracted from the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. It is a "downer" or depressant that affects the brain's pleasure systems and interferes with the brain's ability to perceive pain. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder but its appearance can vary dramatically. Heroin is generally sold as a powder that is white (or off-white) in color. The purer the heroin the whiter the color. Heroin is also available as a solid substance that is black in color. This type of heroin, known as black tar, may be sticky (like tar) or hard to the touch. Powdered heroin, dirty brown in color is also sold.

Street names for heroin include “smack”, “H”, “skag”, “junk”, “bomb”, “brown sugar”, “dope”, ”mud”, etc.

Heroin can be used in a variety of ways, depending on user preference and the purity of the drug. Heroin can be injected into the vein ("mainlining"), injected into a muscle, smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe with tobacco, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, heated on tin foil and inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as "chasing the dragon," or snorted as powder via the nose. Most heroin users inject the drug, but smoking and snorting have become a recent trend.

Heroin is not instantly addictive, but with regular usage the body adjusts and tolerance sets in, until no pleasurable feelings are felt at all. By then the body needs the drug just to stay 'normal' and keep off the pains of withdrawal. The drug has a depressant effect on the central nervous system, slowing breathing and suppressing pain. Initially users experience pleasant euphoria and total relief from stress and anxiety. After the initial rush, the users experience a drowsy state (called being “on the nod”), accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin and dry mouth. Heroin can turn some people into mumbling, introspective bores, unable to get a grip on what's going on around them. Female users may have interrupted periods. Other effects included slowed and slurred speech, slow gait, constricted pupils, droopy eyelids, impaired night vision, vomiting, constipation and reduction of sex drive.

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. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulites, 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. Needle sharing when using street drugs is one of the leading ways to transmit HIV and other diseases. Because street heroin may include impurities that do not readily dissolve, it can obstruct blood vessels that lead to the brain, lungs, liver, or kidneys. Such obstructions can cause infection and cell death in vital organs. Heroin overdoses can cause slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and even death.

(Heroin can be detected in the urine up to 1-2 days after use at common levels, 2 days for methadone.)