Heroin users who inject the drug expose themselves to additional risks, including contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C, and other blood-borne viruses. Chronic users who inject heroin also risk scarred or collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and liver and kidney disease. Since passage of the 2006 Patriot Act which controls public access to pseudoephedrine, limits quantities, and requires identification to purchase the medicine, the number of homemade meth labs has been reduced significantly. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that 75% of all methamphetamine available in the U.S. today is produced in “super labs” operated by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Those lower on the totem pole, such as heroin dealers will find that their financial gains do not compare to those in the upper levels of heroin trafficking. This is attributed to the fact that they are more often than not addicts themselves and are frequently in and out of jail. Also, U.S. laws and law enforcement have stepped up their efforts on interrupting the flow of heroin into the United States. They have also increased their efforts in arresting heroin distributors and heroin dependent individuals who commit crimes to maintain their addiction. Among the 277 pairs who were discordant for marijuana dependence (that is, one twin but not the other met the criteria for a diagnosis of marijuana dependence), the dependent twins were 2.9 times as likely as their nondependent co-twins to think about suicide without attempting it, and 2.5 times as likely to make a suicide attempt. |
