Heroin
Heroin is an addictive drug whose use is a serious problem in the United States. Heroin is derived from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the poppy, also known as the Asian poppy. Heroin usually appears as white or brown powder. Street names associated with this drug include “pasta”, “H”, “white lady”, “white” and “lenguazo” in Spanish and “smack”, “H”, “skag” and “junk” in English. Other names may refer to types of heroin produced in a specific geographic area, such as “Mexican black tar” (“Mexican black tar”).
Health Hazards
Heroin abuse is associated with serious health consequences, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, collapsed veins and, particularly for users who inject the drug, infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
The short term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after the first dose and disappear within a few hours. After an injection of heroin, the user says he feels an outbreak of euphoria (a “rush”) accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth and heavy extremities. After this initial euphoria, the user goes to a feeling of flying (“on the nod”), a state in which alternates between being fully awake and torpor. The mental faculties are disturbed due to the central nervous system depression. The long-term effects of heroin appear after using the drug repeatedly for some period of time. Chronic users may suffer from collapsed veins, infection of the endocardium and heart valves, abscesses, cellulitis, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications can include various types of pneumonia as a result of poor state of health of the abuser, as well as the depressant effects of heroin on respiration.
Heroin abuse during pregnancy together with its many associated environmental factors (eg, lack of prenatal care), has been linked to adverse consequences including low birthweight, a major risk factor for subsequent delays in the development .
In addition to the effects of the drug itself, the heroin sold on the street may have additives that do not readily dissolve and result in a blockage in blood vessels to the lungs, liver, kidneys or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in these vital organs.
The Warning Network Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN, for its acronym in English) * reports that 8 percent of visits to emergency rooms related to any drugs in the last half of 2003, had to do with abuse of heroin. Another 4 percent of visits that mentioned the use of any drugs as a reason to go to hospital, were related to non-specific use of opioids, including heroin could be.
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