Checking if this works… nothing to see here.
Heroin is an opiate drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance 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, known as “black tar heroin.” How Is Heroin Abused?
Heroin can be injected, snorted/sniffed, or smoked—routes of administration that rapidly deliver the drug to the brain. Injecting is the use of a needle to administer the drug directly into the bloodstream. Snorting is the process of inhaling heroin powder through the nose, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Smoking involves inhaling heroin smoke into the lungs. All three methods of administering heroin can lead to addiction and other severe health problems.
Side Effects of Heroin Use
Heroin is metabolized to morphine and other metabolites which bind to opioid receptors in the brain. The short-term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours. After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria (the "rush") accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user experiences an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. Other effects that heroin may have on users include respiratory depression, constricted ("pinpoint") pupils and nausea. Effects of heroin overdose may also include slow and shallow breathing, hypotension, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma, and possible death. Intravenous heroin use is complicated by other issues such as the sharing of contaminated needles, the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and toxic reactions to heroin impurities. Other medical complications that may arise due to heroin use include collapsed veins, abscesses, spontaneous abortion, and endocarditis (inflammation of the heart lining and valves). Pneumonia may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Heroin addiction can remove an otherwise healthy and contributing member from society, and may lead to severe disability and eventually death.
What Treatment Options Exist?
A range of treatments exist for heroin addiction, including medications and behavioral therapies. Science has taught us that when medication treatment is combined with other supportive services, patients are often able to stop using heroin (or other opiates) and return to stable and productive lives.
Treatment usually begins with medically assisted detoxification to help patients withdraw from the drug safely. Medications such as clonidine and buprenorphine can be used to help minimize symptoms of withdrawal. However, detoxification alone is not treatment and has not been shown to be effective in preventing relapse—it is merely the first step.