A) Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive, opiate drug. Its abuse is more widespread than any other opiate. Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of certain varieties of poppy plants. It is typically sold as a white or brownish powder, or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as "black tar heroin." Although purer heroin is becoming more common, most street heroin is "cut" with other drugs or with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. Street heroin can also be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death. Heroin also poses special problems because of the transmission of HIV and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles or other injection equipment.

Q) What the slang names for heroin?

A) "smack", "junk", "horse", "skag", "H", "China white"

Q) What are other opiates that are similar to heroin?

A) Opium, Morphine, Codeine, Merperidine , Hydrocodone (Lortab, Vicodin), Oxycodone (Percodan, Roxicet, Roxiprin, Tylox, Percocet), Stadol, Talwin, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, Buprenorphine, Methadone, Propoxyphene (Wygesic, Darvocet)

A) Heroin is usually injected, sniffed/snorted, or smoked. Typically, a heroin abuser may inject up to four times a day. Intravenous injection provides the greatest intensity and most rapid onset of euphoria (7 to 8 seconds), while musculature injection produces a relatively slow onset of euphoria (5 to 8 minutes). When heroin is sniffed or smoked, peak effects are usually felt within 10 to 15 minutes. Although smoking and sniffing heroin do not produce a "rush" as quickly or as intensely as intravenous injection, NIDA researchers have confirmed that all three forms of heroin administration are addictive.

Injection continues to be the main method of use among heroin addicts; however, researchers have observed a shift in heroin use patterns, from injection to sniffing and smoking. In fact, sniffing/snorting heroin is now a widely reported means of taking heroin among users admitted for drug treatment in Newark, Chicago, New York, and Detroit.

With the shift in heroin abuse patterns comes an even more diverse group of users. Older users (over 30) continue to be one of the largest user groups in most national data. However, several sources indicate an increase in new, young users across the country who are being lured by inexpensive, high-purity heroin that can be sniffed or smoked instead of injected. Heroin has also been appearing in more affluent communities.

A) Most heroin originates from opium poppy farms in SE Asia (the "Golden Triangle": Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand), SW Asia (primarily Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran), Lebanon, Guatemala, and Mexico. The opium gum is converted to morphine in labs near the fields and then to heroin in labs within or near the producing country. After importation, drug dealers cut, or dilute, the heroin (1 part heroin to 9 to 99 parts dilutor) with sugars, starch, or powdered milk before selling it to addicts. Quinine is also added to imitate the bitter taste of heroin so the addict cannot tell how much heroin is actually present. It is sold in single-dose bags of 0.1 gram (0.03 oz.), each costing between $5 and $46 (1992). One pound of diluted heroin yields approximately 4,500 doses.

Q) What are the immediate (short-term) effects of heroin use?

A) Soon after injection (or inhalation), heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. Abusers typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensation, a "rush." The intensity of the rush is a function of how much drug is taken and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid receptors. Heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. With heroin, the rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe itching.

After the initial effects, abusers usually will be drowsy for several hours. Mental function is clouded by heroin's effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac functions slow. Breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin overdose is a particular risk on the street, where the amount and purity of the drug cannot be accurately known.

Q) What are the long-term effects of heroin addiction and use?

A) One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is heroin addiction itself. Addiction is a chronic problem characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces a profound degree of tolerance and physical dependence, which are powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse. As with abusers of any addictive drug, heroin addicts gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains.

Physical dependence develops with higher doses of the drug. With physical dependence, the body adapts to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly. Withdrawal may occur within a few hours after the last time the drug is taken. Symptoms of withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), and leg movements. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. Heroin withdrawal is never fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.

At some point during continuous heroin use, a person can become addicted to the drug. Sometimes addicted individuals will endure many of the withdrawal symptoms to reduce their tolerance for the drug so that they can again experience the rush.

Physical dependence and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms were once believed to be the key features of heroin addiction. We now know this may not be the case entirely, since craving and relapse can occur weeks and months after withdrawal symptoms are long gone. We also know that patients with chronic pain who need opiates to function (sometimes over extended periods) have few if any problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved by other means. This may be because the patient in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by the addict.

Q) What are the medical complications of chronic heroin addiction and use?

A) Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances 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. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.

One of the greatest risks of being a heroin addict is death from heroin overdose. Each year about one percent of all heroin addicts in the United States die from an overdose of heroin despite having developed a fantastic tolerance to the effects of the drug. In a non-tolerant person the estimated lethal dose of heroin may range from 200 to 500 mg, but addicts have tolerated doses as high as 1800 mg without even being sick.

Q) Are heroin users at special risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C?

A) Because many heroin addicts often share needles and other injection equipment, they are at special risk of contracting HIV and other infectious diseases. Infection of injection drug users with HIV is spread primarily through reuse of contaminated syringes and needles or other paraphernalia by more than one person, as well as through unprotected sexual intercourse with HIV-infected individuals. For nearly one-third of Americans infected with HIV, injection drug use is a risk factor. In fact, drug abuse is the fastest growing vector for the spread of HIV in the Nation.

Research has found that drug abusers can change the behaviors that put them at risk for contracting HIV, through drug abuse treatment, prevention, and community-based outreach programs. They can eliminate drug use, drug-related risk behaviors such as needle sharing, unsafe sexual practices, and in turn the risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Drug abuse prevention and treatment are highly effective in preventing the spread of HIV.

Q) How does heroin addiction affect pregnant women?

A) Heroin abuse can cause serious complications during pregnancy, including miscarriage and premature delivery. Children born to addicted mothers are at greater risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), as well.

Q) What does it mean to build a tolerance to heroin?

A) 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.

Q) What is heroin addiction?

A) Heroin addiction like all opiate addictions occurs when heroin is administered over a sustained period of time. The onset of heroin addiction can be both rapid and severe, dependent on the amount used and frequency in a designated period of time. Heroin addicts will "crave" more of the drug and experience withdrawal symptoms if they do not get their regular "fix" or dose. Not all of the mechanisms by which heroin and other opiates affect the brain are known. Likewise, the exact brain mechanisms that cause tolerance and addiction are not completely understood. Heroin stimulates a "pleasure system" in the brain. This system involves neurons in the mid-brain that use the neurotransmitter called "dopamine." These mid-brain dopamine neurons project to another structure called the nucleus accumbens which then projects to the cerebral cortex. This system is responsible for the pleasurable effects of heroin and for the addictive power of the drug.

Q) What are the statistics on heroin addiction in the United States?

A) According to the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which may actually underestimate illicit opiate (heroin) use, an estimated 2.4 million people use heroin at some time in their lives, and nearly 216,000 of them reported using it within the month preceding the survey. The survey report estimates that there were 141,000 new heroin users in 1995, and that there has been an increasing trend in new heroin use since 1992. A large proportion of these recent new users were smoking, snorting, or sniffing heroin, and most were under age 26. Estimates of use for other age groups also increased, particularly among youths age 12 to 17: the incidence of first-time heroin use among this age group increased fourfold from the 1980s to 1995 The 1996 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), which collects data on drug- related hospital emergency department (ED) episodes from 21 metropolitan areas, estimates that 14 percent of all drug-related ED episodes involved heroin. Even more alarming is the fact that between 1988 and 1994, heroin-related ED episodes increased by 64 percent (from 39,063 to 64,013). In 1996, it was reported that heroin was the primary drug of abuse related to drug abuse treatment admissions in Newark, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston, and it ranked a close second to cocaine in New York and Seattle.

Q) What are the symptoms of heroin withdrawal?

A) Heroin Withdrawal symptoms are some of the nastiest an addict can experience compared to withdrawal from any other drug. The individual who has become physically as well as psychologically dependent on heroin will experience heroin withdrawal with an abrupt discontinuation of use or even a decrease in their daily amount of heroin intake. The onset of heroin withdrawal symptoms begins six to eight hours after the last dose is administrated. Major heroin withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose of heroin and subdue after about one week. The symptoms of heroin withdrawal produced are similar to a bad case of the flu.

Symptoms of heroin withdrawal include but are not limited to:

• dilated pupils
• piloerection (goose bumps)
• watery eyes
• runny nose
• yawning
• loss of appetite
• tremors
• panic
• chills
• nausea
• muscle cramps
• insomnia
• stomach cramps
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• shaking
• chills or profuse sweating
• irritability
• jitterness

Q) What are the symptoms of a heroin overdose?

A) Heroin works on the central nervous system. The abusers heartbeat slows as well as their breathing. They may lose consciousness. Any of these effects can be fatal if the dose is too high. Depending on purity and tolerance, a lethal dose of heroin may range from 200 to 500mg, but hardened addicts have survived doses of 1800mg and over. However, with street heroin there is no absolutely certain "safe dosage". It depends on tolerance, amount, and purity of the drug. Overdose can occur when a dose taken is greater than that you're used to. A tolerable dose for an addict could be fatal to a first-time user. Tolerance to heroin is quickly acquired. Even occasional weekend users need to take more to get the same effect over time. Tolerance can also drop if it the drug is not used for a period of time. Some users have overdosed on their 'regular dose, after just a few week's break.

Symptoms of a heroin overdose include but are not limited to:

• muscle spasticity
• slow and labored breathing
• shallow breathing
• stopped breathing (sometimes fatal within 2-4 hours)
• pinpoint pupils
• dry mouth
• cold and clammy skin
• tongue discoloration
• bluish colored fingernails and lips
• spasms of the stomach and/or intestinal tract
• constipation
• weak pulse
• low blood pressure
• drowsiness
• disorientation
• coma
• delirium
  

Q) How do you stop using heroin forever without becoming addicted to drug substitutes such as methadone?

A) The majority of treatment programs in the United States utilize the 12 steps derived from the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs as their foundation. In the past, the 12 step philosophy was combined with inpatient treatment in a hospital setting for a period of at least 28 days. Addicts would attend AA or NA meetings while receiving group therapy. Unfortunately, this model proved to be less than successful and the insurance industry has become unwilling to pay for extended stays. The current trend is to admit someone with a heroin problem to a hospital just long enough to get them through the worst of the physical withdrawal and then to send them to outpatient counseling. This method of treating heroin addiction is the most widely used and also the least successful. The addiction starts with a person who has dealt with a sense of hopelessness, which as it turns out caused the person to start using heroin in the first place. Our program utilizes unique therapeutic training drills and instructional courses which address the underlying causes of addiction in an intensive manner and from many different angles. The individual, in most cases, no longer feels the need to use heroin or any other drugs after the completing the program..

Q) What is heroin detoxification?

A) Heroin detoxification is paramount to a successful recovery. If residue from heroin continues to exist in the addict’s body, cravings for heroin will arise and withdrawal symptoms persist. The goal of heroin detoxification is to ultimately eliminate the drug, and all its metabolites from the body to increase the chance of a successful recovery. The human body will eventually expel the remaining heroin residue through urination and sweating.