HEROIN Essay, Research Paper

Abstract

The use of heroin continues to climb in most areas. The number of varieties and sources of heroin

available, combined with an increased domestic demand make the heroin market the fastest growing drug

market reported. While there are indications of increased use of heroin among younger, suburban users, it

is the cadre of older, inner-city heroin users that drive the heroin market (DEA 1996). Almost all areas

report that the majority of heroin users are older drug users (over 30) who have been using for many years.

However, many areas are reporting an increase in the number of new or younger users.

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Heroin, Its Effects and Treatment

Heroin (AKA: smack, horse, mud, brown sugar) has been a part of the drug culture for many years. It is

primarily used through injection causing wide spread concerns for everyone. Syringes lost or left behind

by users carry disease and narcotics which can effect anyone who comes in contact with them. Syringes

from heroin addicts have been found at bus benches, vacant lots by schools, alleyways and public

bathrooms. Diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, and tetanus are common amongst heroin addicts (Strategy

1996).

Heroin is an opiate or a downer and is made from the resin taken from the seed pod of the poppy plant. The

resin is processed in a variety of ways resulting in the final product known as heroin . The processing

method determines the appearance of heroin as it is seen on the street. Black tar heroin looks like tootsie

roll candy and/or dark caramel and has a strong vinegar odor to it. Black Tar heroin is packaged in small

pieces of aluminum foil, tightly wrapped plastic and/or cellophane from cigarette packages.

“The heroin affects the brain?s pleasure and pain system. It interferes with the brain?s ability to perceive

pain and activates the brain?s pleasure system. The drug is fast acting, especially when injected or smoked.

Injected heroin reaches the brain in 15-30 seconds, smoked heroin reaches the brain in 7 seconds” (Mckim,

1996).

Non-intravenous heroin doesn?t give nearly as intense a rush and so is thought to be less addicting. People

who snort heroin can often do so on and off for long periods of time without becoming strongly addicted.

This occasional use of heroin is called

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“chipping” and it seems that some lucky people can remain successful chippers over months or even years.

Unfortunately, a high percentage of chippers become addicts. Most junkies begin as chippers with no

thought that they would ever become addicts (Drug Free, 1996).

With the preferred method of heroin use being injection, you will generally see certain types of

paraphernalia. This paraphernalia will include, but is not limited to, spoons with residue in the spoon along

with a piece of cotton, the bottom side of the spoon having burn marks and the handle being bent

downward somewhat. Syringes are also included in this paraphernalia along with soda bottle caps, which

have the same use as the spoons. The spoons or caps are used to dilute and liquefy the heroin. The cotton

in the spoon is for filtering the heroin as it is drawn into the syringe.

To put a perspective on heroin, morphine is one of the strongest legal pain killers known and heroin is five

times stronger. Heroin tends to relax the user. An immediate rush usually will occur and sometimes be

accompanied by side effects such as restlessness, nausea and vomiting. A user of heroin may go on the

“nod”. This is best described as going back and forth from feeling alert to drowsy. Due to the use of

needles with this drug, infections and abscesses on the body are common. Heroin users will normally have

injuries that have been left unattended due to the drugs pain killing abilities. Addiction usually leads to

malnutrition and weight loss. A person addicted to heroin may look like they are in a daze, almost to the

point of sleep, have a dry mouth,

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low raspy voice, droopy eyelids, profuse itching, and fresh puncture marks or sores covering their body

(Mckim, 1996).

The greatest risks of being a heroin addict is death from heroin overdose. Each year about one percent of all

heroin addicts in the United States die from an overdose of heroin despite having developed a fantastic

tolerance to the effects of the drug. In a non-tolerant person the estimated lethal dose of heroin may range

from 200 to 500 mg, but addicts have tolerated doses as high as 1800 mg without even being sick. No

doubt, some overdoses are a result of mixing heroin with other drugs, but appear to result from a sudden

loss of tolerance. “Addicts have been killed one day by a dose that was readily tolerated the day before”

(Nadelmann, 1996).

The physical dangers of using heroin, are but not limited to, contaminated needles, contamination of the

drug, using too much of the drug to the point of overdose, or combining it with other drugs such as cocaine

(speedballing). As with any drug, when addiction occurs the addict will go to extreme means to obtain the

drug. This translates to increased crime in our community. The crime rate is directly affected by the drugs

being used illicit drugs being used in our community. Burglary, shoplifting, and robbery are a few that are

most often connected to a heroin addict (DEA, 1996).

Prostitutes are common users of heroin and can spread disease with the syringes they use and the service

they provide. “Prostitution and heroin go hand in hand” (DEA, 1996). Prostitution is first used as a means

to afford heroin and soon becomes a way of life as the addicts body and mind deteriorate. Prostitution has

been labeled by some as

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a victimless crime but in affect it has several victims. One victim being the addicted prostitute, another

victim is the family of a customer who contracts HIV.

The number of new and younger users is rising. Some of these are described as fairly affluent,

non-urban dwellers who come into the city to buy heroin. In most cases, these new users are snorting the

drug rather than injecting it. The availability is attractive to the younger users. “The heroin can be found

not only on the street, but in most clubs, and even in some quick-stop type gas stations” (Newsweek, 1996).

Many rock stars have died from heroin overdose in the past and the numbers are still growing

today. This issue should be alerting the younger generation of the problems with this drug. However, it is

making heroin a “cool drug”. The youths look at the effects of the drug on the music artists and can only

focus on the tremendous high that they themselves can obtain from the drug. They do not believe the side-

effects or even death could occur to them.

The price is also appealing for youths. In general, heroin prices are low, but there is considerable

variation. Some areas report bags of heroin starting as low as $5.00. Others report somewhat higher

prices. In general, purity is also high, though there is considerable variation even within the same

geographic area. Heroin prices reported by police vary by area: $250-300 per gram in the Northwest to

$150 per gram in Colorado, to $60-70 per gram in the East. This is due, in part, to the type of heroin

available (Mexican, Southeast Asian, Colombian). Purity is also variable from lows of less than 10 percent

in the Northwest to highs of more than 60 percent in the East (DEA, 1996).

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Heroin is such an addictive drug that it needs substantial detoxification treatment. Methadone

maintenance is the most effective known treatment for heroin addiction. “Used properly, methadone

reduces drug use, related crime, death, and disease among heroin users. Methadone has been handicapped

by restrictive government regulations, due to misinformation among treatment providers and drug users

alike. Methadone treatment is not widely used” (Nadelmann,1996). Methadone is the most tightly restricted

drug in America. It is confined to specialized treatment programs, which tend to be underfunded, punitive,

and in short supply. Doctors in general medical practice can?t prescribe methadone, and regular pharmacies

don?t distribute it. Given the upswing in heroin use in many U.S. cities, coupled with a raging HIV/AIDS

epidemic among drug injectors, it is now essential to reinvent methadone as a harm reduction intervention.

This means delivering methadone treatment in such a way t!

hat it is available and acceptable to a far greater range of heroin users. It is time to give serious

consideration to foreign methods of providing methadone, which utilize not only standard methadone

clinics but family medical doctors, pharmacies, methadone buses (mobile clinics), and reduced-service

clinics. “There is no sound economic, medical, or practical argument against at least trying these

innovations, which are already commonplace in many other western nations with great success”

(Nadelmann 1996).

The majority of people in treatment for heroin addiction are older, experienced drug users. In all regions,

65 percent or over are in their thirties, and over 70 percent of them have been in drug treatment before

(NADELMANN, 1996).

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Education is critical in combating the use of Heroin. Without education the motivation to get treatment

will not be present until it is too late.

REFERENCES

Buck, Chris A. (1996, August 26) Pop culture and the battle with drugs. Newsweek 50, v128.

Mckim, William A. (1996). The risk of heroin overdose. Drug Behavior, 56.

Nadelmann, Ethan (1996). Methodone Maintenance Page at Lindesmith Center, Drug Research Institute.

Partnership for a Drug Free America. (1996) Drug Free Resource Net.

Siegal, S. (1982) Drug dissociation in 19th century. 267-262.

DEA Press Release. (June 21, 1995)

OUTLINE

1. Introduction

2. Heroin

A. Characteristics

B. Effects

C. Paraphernalia

3. Heroin Overdose

4. Heroin Usage

A. Clientele

B. Popularity

5. Rehabilitation

A. Centers

B. Treatments

6. Conclusion

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