Heroin/Morphine

WHAT IS IT

Heroin is a highly addictive white/brown powder/brown sticky tar made from opium poppies. Users may snrt, smoke, or inject it. Heroin is a depressant. It enters the brain, where it is converted to morphine and binds to receptors known as opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain that deal with pain but also within the brain stem--important for automatic processes critical for life, such as breathing, and blood pressure. Heroin overdoses frequently involve a suppression of respiration.

 

STREET LINGO:

  • Big H
  • Blacktar
  • Brown Sugar
  • Dope
  • Horse
  • Junk
  • Mud
  • Skag
  • Smack

Heroin is a highly addict drug derived from morhpine.

It's a "downer" that affects the brain's pleasure systems & interfers with the brain's ability to perceive pain.

 

HEROIN USAGE:

Heroin usage depends on user preference & the purity of the drug.

  • Heroin can be injected in a vein this is called "mainlining"
  • Injected into a muscle
  • Smoked in a water pipe
  • Smoked in a standard pipe
  • mixed in a marijuana joing/reg. cigarettes
  • Inhaled as smoke through a straw this is known as "chasing the dragon"
  • Snorted as powder via the nose

EFFECTS OF HEROIN:

*Short Term*

  • Euphoria('rush')
  • Warm flushng of the skin
  • Dry mouth
  • Heavy extermities
  • "goes on the nod":an alternately wakeful & drowsy state
  • Mental functioning become clouded
  • Slowed speech
  • Slurred speech
  • Slow gait
  • Constricted pupils
  • Droopy eyelids
  • Impaired night vision
  • Vomiting
  • Constipation

**Short term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dosage & disappear in a few hours.**

 

*Long Term*

  • Develop collapsed veins
  • Infection of the heart lining and valves
  • Abscesses
  • Cellulites
  • Liver disease
  • Pulmonary complications(i.e. various types of pneumonia)
  • Street heroin may have additives that do not really dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even DEATH of small patches of cells in vital organs
  • Tolerance develops(with regular use)--requiring the abuser to use more heroin to achieve the same intensity or effect
  • As higher doses are used over time, physical dependence & addiction develop

 

HEROIN WITHDRAWAL:

  • Withdrawal, which in regular abusers may occur as early as a few hours after the last use, produces the following effects(symptoms)
  • drug cravings
  • restlessness
  • muscle & bone pain
  • insomnia
  • diarrhea
  • vomiting
  • cold flashes w/goose bumps('cold turkey')
  • kicking movement('kicking the habit')
  • Other symptoms

MAJOR WITHDRAWAL:

  • Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48-72 hours after the last dose and subside after about a week
  • Sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent users who are in poor health CAN BE FATAL

Federal Classification:

Schedule I

 

STATISTICS

  • In the 25 to 49 age group, illict drug overdose is the FOURTH leading cause of death, about the same number as MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES.
  • Children as YOUNG as 13 have been found INVOLVED in HEROIN ABUSE.
  • According to statistics in 1999 heroin overdose has caused more deaths than traffic accidents.
  • The 1999 National Household Survey on drug abuse (NHSDA) esitmated that there were 149,000 new heroin users in 1998.
  • Nearly 80% were under the age of 26.
  • Last year, there were approx. 84,000 visits to emergency rooms in the US due to heroin.
  • Over 80% of heroin users inject with a partner
  • 80% of heroin overdose victims, however, found by paramedics are alone.
  • The dependent person use between 150-250 milligrams per day. Divide into 3 doses.
  • The heroin addict spends between $150 to $200 per day to maintain a heroin addiction.
  • In 1998, 65% of the heroin seized in the US originated in South America, and 17% came from Mexico.
  • Data from the 1999 National Household Survey on drug abuse suggest purity is partly resposible for the 75% of new heroin users who are snorting or smoking, NOT injecting the opiate.
  • In 1991 the number of new users was 46%
  • The 1999 NHSDA survey adjusted the average age for initiation of heroin use to just above 21 years of age.
  • Other surveys, and experts have said many new users are between 18 to 25 years old.
  • According to Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) heroin and morphine accounted for 51% of drug deaths ruled accidental or unexpected in 1999.
  • Out of the 11,651 deaths...accidental and intentional by way of suicide...reported to DAWN by medical examiners in 1999, the most recent year for which complete statistics are avaliable, 4,820 were the result of heroin or morhphine abuse, or some combination of those and other drugs.
  • Treatment admission rates for primary heroin abuse increased in publicly funded substance abuse treatment facilities across the US between 1993 and 1999.
  • In 1993, the treatment admission rate for primary heroin abuse in the US was 95 admissions per 100,000 persons age 12 or older.
  • By 1996, the admission rate had increased 7% to 102 per 100,000.
  • By 1999, the admission rate had increased ANOTHER 3% to 105 per 100,000.
  • **the route of adminstration among heroin users entering treatment has been changing**
  • In 1993, 74% of admissions for heroin abuse were injectors.
  • By 1999, the admission for heroin abuse by injection declined 66%
  • In 1993, admission for heroin inhalation was 23% of admissions.
  • In 1999, admission for heroin inhalation increased to 28%.

HEROIN TREND STATISTICS ACROSS THE US:

**heroin trends across the US are indicators of the rate of heroin ABUSE, heroin ADDICTION, domestic violence, and child abuse. The heroin trends for each state has a direct correlation to the amount of heroin SEIEZED by federal authorities. Below are the federal heroin SEIZURES for each INDIVIDUAL STATE. These statistics for each state's federal heroin SEIZURES provides current information  on which states have the LARGEST heroin TRAFFICING problem**

  • Alabama Federal Heroin Seizures: 0 kgs
  • Arizona " " ": 7.9 kgs
  • Arkansas " " ": 0 kgs
  • California " " ": 357.8 kgs
  • Colorado " " ": 2 kgs
  • Connecticut " " ": 4.1 kgs
  • Delaware " " ": 0 kgs
  • Florida " " ": 633.6 kgs
  • Georgia " " ": 15.8 kgs
  • Idaho " " ": 1.1 kgs
  • Illinois " " ": 633.6 kgs
  • Indiana " " ": 0.2 kgs
  • Iowa " " ": 0 kgs
  • Kansas " " ": 1.7 kgs
  • Kentucky " " ": 10.8 kgs
  • Louisiana " " ": 17.9 kgs
  • Maine " " ": 0 kgs
  • Maryland " " ": 17.8 kgs
  • Massachusetts " " ": 4.4 kgs
  • Michigan " " ": 10.9 kgs
  • Minnesota " " ": 13.5 kgs
  • Mississippi " " ": 3.2 kgs
  • Missouri " " ": 2.9 kgs
  • Montana " " ": 0 kgs
  • Nebraska " " ": 0 kgs
  • Nevada " " ": 1.7 kgs
  • New Hampshire " " ": 0 kgs
  • New Jersey " " ": 168.8 kgs
  • New Mexico " " ": 6.1 kgs
  • New York " " ": 801.5 kgs
  • North Carolina " " ": 0 kgs
  • North Dakota " " ": 0 kgs
  • Ohio " " ": 18.2 kgs
  • Oklahoma " " ": 0.1 kgs
  • Oregon " " ": 5.3 kgs
  • Pennsylvania " " ": 8.7 kgs
  • Rhode Island " " ": 0.8 kgs
  • South Carolina " " ": 6.2 kgs
  • South Dakota " " ": 0 kgs
  • Tennessee " " ": 41.0 kgs
  • Texas " " ": 142.0 kgs
  • Utah " " ": 0.4 kgs
  • Vermont " " ": 0 kgs
  • Virginia " " ": 4.7 kgs
  • Washington " " ": 15.1 kgs
  • West Virginia " " ": 0.1 kgs
  • Wisconsin " " ": 2.8 kgs
  • Wyoming " " ": 0 kgs

 

 

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