...Heroin- While researching heroin I learned it is basically morphine! Heroin is extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance. In 2011, 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older had used heroin at least once in their lives. 9.2 million people use heroin in the United States! It is estimated that about 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become addicted to it. Heroin can be injected into the body, snorted, or inhaled. All of the ways of doing heroin are harmful and addictive. If someone takes it once and then it wears off then that person will go through withdraws and crave more. When heroin enters the brain, it is converted back into morphine, which...
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...Heroin is a extremely addictive medication, prohibited, and one of the most abused narcotic. Although purer heroin is becoming apparently more common, a majority of heroin is processed with various stronger substances. For example, sugar, quinine, or starch (Candelaria). Street heroin can be made with these variety of dangerous substances. Heroin users are at extraordinary danger of overdose or even death because most times, they are not aware of the many modifications made to the drug or its real substance (Candelaria). Heroin also pose problems such as the transmission of HIV and various ailments that can ensue from sharing needles or other injection tools (Candelaria). Short-term effects can consist of heroin crossing the brain shortly after consumption (Candelaria), subsequently, users frequently report feeling a surge of sensation. The intensity of the rush is a correlation of not only just how much drug is consumed but also how rapidly the drug links to the opioid receptors (Candelaria). Heroin is especially addictive due to the fact that it enters the mind so quickly, sending a surge throughout the body. The surge after consumption is accompanied by a warm sensation of the skin, a staggering feeling in the vision, and dry mouth, which may...
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...Heroin Overdoses are Shooting up Heroin has now become the new normal drug here in the United States. Why has this happened? Are prescription drugs getting to expensive? Are young people being educated? According to TIME prescription pain killers are one of the causes of this increase of overdoses and users and according to the CDC there has been a 150% increase of heroin users. More than 8,200 died of heroin-related overdose in 2013. Heroin is mostly found in young men between the ages of 18-25 years old. The men are also making less than $20,000 a year, the CDC researchers say that heroin has mostly doubled in white woman. “Heroin use has increased rapidly across the U.S. and throughout society,” said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden. “ With...
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...You Might Receive When Seeking Help For Heroin Addiction Heroin addiction is very difficult to overcome because of the side effects of detoxification from the drug. One effect of heroin is that you need to use increasingly larger quantities to feel the same high. As the amount you use increases along with the length of time you've used the drug increases, the detox reaction becomes stronger. Heroin addiction treatment is a combination of medical detox to help you manage physical symptoms when you stop using the drug and psychological treatment to help you overcome the triggers that make you want to use heroin. Here's an overview of what you can expect when you want to overcome your heroin addiction. Inpatient Medical Detox When you begin an addiction recovery program, you'll probably need to enter a medical facility for a couple of days or longer so you can detox. When you stop using heroin, you'll have...
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...As you prepare yourself for rehab for your heroin addiction, you must first be congratulated for taking one of the most important steps in your life. It takes a great deal of courage to admit you have an illness and finally be willing to seek help in order to regain a normal way of living. As you begin this next phase of your life, you could probably use a little information to set you on the right path. The Process First and foremost, it's important for you to take the time necessary to find the right rehab environment. By doing so, you will be able to secure a treatment that gives you the best opportunity for a lasting recovery. Prior to setting off for rehab, you will most definitely need to spend the requisite time needed in a heroin detox center. Heroin, as are all opiate based drugs, is an insidious monster that pleases your nerve centers and befriends you into believing you can't live without it. The only way your rehab stint is going to bring the desired results is if you can eliminate the residual chemicals from your body and minimize the physical and psychological cravings for the drug. A stint in a heroin detox center in best and safest way to accomplish this. Where Can You Find a Reputable...
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...Drugs are prevalent in a large ary of communities. Some more extreme than others. In fact, Indiana is one of the top states in the country for drug prevalence. One specific drug is heroin. There is area with large demand and easy access to heroin. One town where heroin is significantly prevalent is Bloomington Indiana. With the town comes a college campus and with a college campus comes many people who move around making it hard to control. The use of heroin is on the rise not only in the city of Bloomington but in the entire Monroe county. Drugs are always a part of any community and are hard to control, especially in college based community; there should be major concern for the rising deaths and overdoses due to heroin. Traveling to Bloomington...
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...If you are struggling with a heroin addiction while living in Newark, New Jersey, it is understandable why you might not know what to do or where to turn should you want to stop your cycle of addiction. All anyone has to do is read local news report after news report about the prevalence gang activity and drugs on Newark's streets to know that temptation within the city's limits is hard to avoid. With that said, there will still come a time when you need to think about getting help or risk losing your life. Is a Newark NJ Heroin Rehab Center a Viable Solution? While your fist instinct might be to contact a local NJ heroin rehab center, you might encounter certain obstacles that make going out-of-state a better alternative. Putting aside the dangers of trying to get help in a familiar environment where your dealers and enablers are living and prompting you...
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...“The Poor Man’s Heroin”: The Origin and Effects of the Street Drug Krokodil Nick Sekits Ms. Tabata 11-12-15 HISTORY & ORIGIN In 2011, American media was buzzing about the new Russian street drug, “Krokodil”. Sensationalists dubbed it the “zombie drug”, the “drug that eats junkies”, and “the most dangerous drug in the world.” While fear of the drug catching on in the U.S was really just the work of exaggerated media, the carnage in Russia was very real, especially amongst the poor. The epidemic sparked due to the country’s already severe drug problem at the time. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 90% of Russia’s 2.5 million drug users were heroin addicts. The expense of heroin and the constant search for a new high...
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...Heroin Addiction Psyc 305 B-03 June 15, 2015 Abstract: This paper will serve to provide information about heroin addiction in our society. Heroin addiction is an epidemic problem in the United States and is growing every year. Factors such as genetics and environmental factors will be discussed as they relate to heroin addicts. Trends with prescription pain medication and their effects on heroin use will be discussed. This paper will also highlight the prevalence of heroin in the United States. Heroin affects different groups of people in all walks of life. Treatment for heroin will be discussed in the latter portion of this paper. This will highlight different options to fit specific needs. Addiction: a physical dependency on a substance (Doweiko, 2015), a chronic brain disease that causes compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences, (Addiction, 2015). There is no universally accepted way to define addiction. It seems that it is easier to qualify behavior as an addiction than it is to define the word itself. For the purpose of this paper we will use the four general categories of the DSM-5 to help identify and understand heroin addiction. This paper will serve to provide information about heroin addiction’s possible causes, prevalence and treatment. What causes heroin addiction? The causes of heroin addiction are not clear. As with most drugs it is thought that the user is trying to feel better or self-medicate...
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...Heroin Addiction and Treatment Abstract This paper offers a brief explanation of the history of heroin. Describing the origins of heroin, who discovered it and describe the detrimental effects heroin has on an individual. There are several treatment options available for heroin addicts and this paper will look at a few of the ones that have shown the most success. Heroin Addiction and Treatment Introduction: A Brief History of Heroin Heroin comes from the opium poppy. This plant has been used by a number of various civilizations going back to include ancient civilizations. Opium, heroin, and morphine are derived from the poppy. Opium had been used by Drs. in the United States for many years prior to the Civil War. When morphine was discovered Drs. switched to using morphine instead of opium for pain, mainly because the hypodermic needle had been invented and morphine could be injected and pain could be better controlled. Heroin was derived from a chemical process discovered by Felix Hoffman in 1874. Heroin was initially distributed as a pain killer, and cough suppressant by Bayer Company in 1898. Drs. initially thought that heroin could replace morphine because they thought heroin did not possess the addictive qualities of morphine. In fact Drs. used heroin to get their patient’s off morphine. They thought...
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...Heroin Abuse: Reaching to the Suburban Youth The best driving force to get informed and motivated about a certain topic is a personal experience and my motivation came when one of my best friends passed away from a heroin overdose. Almost exactly a year ago, this friend of mine passed away from a heroin overdose and none of his close friends or family even knew the problem had escalated so greatly. It had all started with a pill addiction to xanax that slowly grew more severe but with a few interventions and a couple of trips to rehab, most of us thought that he was doing well and had kicked the habit. Little did we know that he had kicked the xanax habit only to graduate to something as intense as heroin. The frightening thing about this drug is that my friend was a small, upper class, Jewish boy from the suburbs of St. Louis and would not typically be the image you think of when a person might think of a heroin addict. He was the furthest thing from an underprivileged, poor, inner city adult. But addict hew was, and it is still somewhat of a mystery to those who were closest to him as to how he was able to access his drugs. For every person that believes they know the true meaning of the word “addiction,” there is another person right beside them to argue a different point of view. In this day and age, one would think that doctors or scientists or psychologists would have narrowed it down to a universal description but this is not the case. There are many different...
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...Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin or crack' Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published today which will reopen calls for the drugs classification system to be scrapped and a concerted campaign launched against drink. Led by the sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt with colleagues from the breakaway Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the study says that if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do, alcohol would be class A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine. Today's paper, published by the respected Lancet medical journal, will be seen as a challenge to the government to take on the fraught issue of the relative harms of legal and illegal drugs, which proved politically damaging to Labour. Nutt was sacked last year by the home secretary at the time, Alan Johnson, for challenging ministers' refusal to take the advice of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which he chaired. The committee wanted cannabis to remain a class C drug and for ecstasy to be downgraded from class A, arguing that these were less harmful than other drugs. Nutt claimed scientific evidence was overruled for political reasons. The new paper updates a study carried out by Nutt and others in 2007, which was also published by the Lancet and triggered debate for suggesting that legally available alcohol and tobacco were more dangerous...
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...Distance Education Methadone Treatment Programs are Effective in Stopping Heroin Use A Paper Presented to Professor Loyd Uglow, Ph.D In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Course THE 5113 Research Literature and Technology Sharon Pete November 28, 2012 THESIS STATEMENT: To investigate Methadone maintenance is found to be more effective in treating heroin addiction than 180 day detoxification. The objective is how methadone maintenance, a widely used but controversial method of weaning heroin addicts off the drug—with counseling has psychosocially enriched 180 day methadone assisted detoxification. OUTLINE I. INTRODUCTION A. History of Heroin B. History of withdrawals II. How Methadone is used to treat Heroin? III. Research Findings IV. CONCLUSION V. Work Cited Methadone Treatment Programs are Effective in Stopping Heroin Use Substitution treatment or maintenance pharmacotherapy programs using methadone are today the most sought after and effective form of treatment for opiate addiction and dependence. Because methadone is a long-acting opiate whose dosage can be stabilized, it is well suited for daily administration and has proven effective in the elimination of narcotic craving, a driving force behind continued heroin use. And, because it can be administered orally, methadone dramatically reduces heroin injecting frequency and, with it, associated risks for HIV and other blood-borne...
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...of Methadone Treatment on Opiate and Heroin Dependency Since the early times, opiates, heroin, and other drugs have been used in providing analgesia as well as substitutes to reach a place of euphoria. Originally, as Yurgelum-Todd et al (2009) has noted, derived from the opium poppy, heroin has been used as an alternative to morphine in dealing with addiction (Yurgelum-Todd, p. 175, 2009). Unfortunately, over the years it has consistently become prevalent that heroin has more negative aspects than anything; heroin is highly addictive, resulting in consequences such as overdoses, infections, violence and crime, deficits in memory, learning, and attention. The need to relieve pain by use of heroin and other drugs, though, results in opioid dependence, estimated to affect more than one million persons in North America alone (Oviedo-Joekes, p. 778, 2009). To relieve opiate dependence, researchers experimented with an opiate-agonist called methadone; the standard opioid-susbstitution treatment, to help reduce withdrawals and other negative consequences surrounding the use of drugs like heroin by producing a phenomenon called the “blocking-dose”, which blocks opiate receptors (Oviedo-Joekes, p. 778, 2009). Methadone was, in fact, the “first opiate agonist used in the pharmacotherapy of heroin addiction. Methadone is the best studied drug, but also the most controversial”(Maremmani, p. 7, 2008). This paper will discuss different research methods used to analyze the effects...
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...are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences” (The White House, 2006). Each year the policies are updated to reflect the current trends within the illegal world of drug trafficking. Drug use in the last decade has nearly doubled. The Bush Administration updated the policies in February 2006 to achieve the primary goal of reducing drug use within the United States. The President’s strategy focuses on three principal elements: stopping drug use before it starts, healing drug users, and disrupting the market for illicit drugs. This paper will discuss the specifics, origins and goal of the third strategy, “Disrupting the Markets”. The writer will also discuss resources and costs involved for effective implementation and maintenance. Finally, this paper will provide information on the effects of drug use on the community, ethical implications and suggestions to improve this particular strategy. The policy of “Disrupting the Markets” attempts to stop drug trade by attacking the economics of the system. This element of the Bush Administration strategy provides details on progress being done domestically and internationally to “disrupt the availability of illicit drugs, through source country efforts, interdiction programs, and investigative operations. We are attacking market vulnerabilities in the illegal drug trade and applying pressure to reduce profits and raise the risks...
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