Heroin Addiction
Heroin is the most frequently abused of the opiates and is derived from the seedpod of the opium-producing poppy. In small doses, heroin at first gives the user a sense of warmth and well-being. Higher doses can make them drowsy and ultra-relaxed with first-time side effects like dizziness and vomiting. The drug has more street names than almost any other, including smack, horse, gear, junk and skag. It has been romanticized by writers and musicians to such an extent that many users try it without realizing the ultimate consequences.
Heroin recently became popularized again when South American cocaine lords began producing and creating an incredibly potent strain of the drug. Suddenly heroin went from a looked down-upon street drug to an upper class fashionable high for the elite. The drug comes as a white powder when pure, but street heroin is usually brownish-white with a tint of yellow due to the cutting of the drug by the dealers. It is usually diluted though with other substances such as powdered milk or quinine. Street heroin can also be cut with poisons such as strychnine, which poses serious problems for users who do not know the actual strength or contents of the drug. The heroin on the street today is five times more pure then it was ten years ago, greatly increasing the possibility of accidental overdose. On the West Coast, heroin usually comes in the form of black tar imported illegally from Mexico. Both forms of heroin can be snorted, smoked or injected. Once a habit is formed, addicts are forced to take the drug simply to feel normal. Those who start by smoking or snorting often switch to injection to maximize the high. The risks of injecting, particularly through sharing needles, include a number of dangerous infections, including hepatitis and HIV.
Heroin users administer the drug either intranasal (snorting) or by smoking or injecting it either IV or intramuscularly. Injection poses increased problems due to the transmission of HIV and other blood carried diseases that can occur from needle sharing. In recent years, the number of emergency room visits due to snorting or sniffing heroin has increased vastly. As the purity of heroin increases snorting has become the primary means of administering the drug for new users. After heroin is injected, inhaled or smoked it binds to the brains opiate receptors which causes a warm pleasurable flushing of the skin (a rush). Other effects are drying of the mouth, heavy feeling in the extremities, often accompanied by nausea and severe itching. This is followed by a slowing of breathing and heartbeat, drowsiness, and clouded mental activity as the drug affects the central nervous system.
Tolerance quickly develops, and the user needs more to get the same effect, draining bank accounts and severely damaging family finances. Physical addiction occurs as higher doses become necessary to achieve the desired euphoric effect. A physical dependence takes place when the body adapts to the presence of the drug and reacts with symptoms of withdrawal if its use is abruptly stopped. Heroin addicts experience symptoms of withdrawal with in hours of their last usage. One out of every five people who use heroin eventually becomes addicted. The symptoms of withdrawal are intense and severe. They include extreme restlessness, inability to sleep, deep muscle and bone ache, hot and cold flashes, goose bump skin, and twitching of the arm and leg muscles. These “Cold Turkey” (withdrawing without symptom inhibiting meds) peak after forty-eight hours and almost entirely subside after about a week. Heroin is undoubtedly one of the toughest drugs to kick. People addicted to heroin relapse often when first attempting to get clean. Heroin is so addictive that obtaining the next fix can come to dominate the addict’s life, forcing them to take actions they never would have considered before.
Treatment for heroin addiction is most effective when heroin use is identified and treated early. It begins with detoxification, freeing the user from his physical addiction, followed by involvement in a rigorous residential therapeutic community, which upon completion is supported by continued outpatient treatment and support in living and coping without the use of heroin. Although withdrawing from heroin can be very hard, it is not life threatening and can be properly managed and eased in a social model detox setting like ONE80CENTER.
