Social issues of addiction focus on how heroin addicts relate to their environment, including interpersonal and family relationships, employment and legal problems. Once the heroin is smuggled into America, 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. Also, quinine is added to imitate the bitter taste of heroin so the addict cannot tell how much heroin is actually present. Heroin is often 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. The number of ED visits involving heroin/morphine increased 15 percent, from 84,409 to 97,287 Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC for short. |
