heroin project saved18:02 Jan 18 2006
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Heroin
Heroin is a drug that is commonly used; although it is slightly more or less expensive than other drugs it is highly lethal. Heroin is made from the drug Morphine what is made from Opium, a type of fluid that comes from Poppy’s. Strangely enough Heroin has been used through the ages for a variety of things, now that more people know about it and that it is more reachable for the communities, Heroin is easier to get and is abused by people just to get to a place, where you might never come back from.
Some slang names for Heroin would be:
• Brown Sugar,
• Dope
• H
• Horse
• Junk
• Skunk
• Smack
• White Horse and many others.
• School boy
Heroin in its pure form; is a fine white crystalline powder that dissolves in water. When it is sold on the street, its color and consistency vary, depending on the manufacturing process and what additives it has been mixed, or "cut" with. Street heroin may come in the form of a white powder, a brown, sometimes grainy substance or a dark brown sticky gum. The purity of heroin varies from batch to batch, and can range from 2 to 98 per cent.
Some additives, such as sugars, starch or powdered milk are used to increase the weight for retail sale, or other drugs may be added to increase the effects of the heroin. Quinine may be added to imitate heroin's bitter taste, making it difficult to determine the purity of the drug.
Heroin is most commonly administrated by the means of;
• injection - either into a vein ("mainlining," intravenous or I.V. use), into a muscle (intramuscular or I.M. use) or under the skin ("skin-popping" or subcutaneous use)
• snorting - inhaling the powder through the nostril (also called sniffing)
• inhaling or smoking - this method is also referred to as "chasing the dragon," and involves gently heating the heroin on aluminum foil and inhaling the smoke and vapors through a tube.
Some of the history of Heroin goes as followed. When heroin was first introduced in the late 19th century, it was promoted as a pain reliever and cough suppressant. By the early 20th century, the dangers of heroin were recognized. Laws were introduced throughout North America and Europe to restrict the production, distribution and use of heroin. Most heroin is produced in Asia, and Latin America where poppies are produced.
Long term effects of using Heroin;
• Addiction
• Brain Damage
• Physical Dependence
• Collapsed Veins
• Bacterial Infections
• Infections of heart lining and valves
• Arthritis and other rheumatologic problems
• Abscesses
Short Term Effects of using Heroin;
• “Rush”
• Depressed respiration
• Clouded mental functioning
• Nausea and vomiting
• Suppression of pain
• Spontaneous abortion
Addiction to the drug can cause majot issues with Family, Friend ties , Mental and Physical health. There are signs to detect is a close friend or family member is abusing this drug.
Signs of Heroin Abuse
Constricted, pinpoint pupils
Vomiting
Constipation
Nodding Out
Increased activity level before nodding out
Use of laxatives (heroin causes constipation)
Loss of old, established friendships
New, undesirable friends
Frequent, secret phone calls
Depression
Track marks on arms
Unexplained time away from home
Sudden change in behavior
Itching and scratching
Weight loss
Cessation of menstruation
Finding plastic zip loc baggies
Finding spoons with burn marks
Disappearance of spoons
Stolen credit cards and checks
Aluminum foil and chewing gum wrappers with burn marks
New purchases returned for a cash refund
Pawn slips found in the house
Theft of household valuables, tools, appliances, and jewelry
Missing shoelaces from shoes used as a tie off for injecting heroin
Bottles of vinegar and bleach (used to clean needles
Cotton balls
Withdrawal may occur within a few hours after the last time the drug is taken. Symptoms of withdrawal include
Restlessness
Muscle and bone pain
Insomnia
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey")
leg movements.
Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. Heroin withdrawal is never fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.
Effects on Society
Heroin addicts are known to be violent and careless. Its hard to tell is a person is using Heroin at first, some signs are not noticable but once the substance becomes known the family will either draw away or try to help the person on need. Heroin addicts dont care about family. friends or anything else except when they can get their next fix. They draw away from everyone despite attempts of help from Family, in most cases the addicts ask family for money to buy their drug, and also in most cases they give them the money because at least they will know where they are at and what they are doing.
Effects on the community would be the eneral safety for innocent people, addicts are known to be a threat for people walking or driving around abandonend places or in plain sight of people. Addicts can cause harm and even death to other people just for money or other things just so they can buy their drugs.
When heroin addicts go into Denial, they think they dont have a problem; until they are faced with it by a friend or family member, who can call an intervention that helps them to relize that they are not helpless and that there are people there for them to help. They are given a choice. Sometimes when addicts d o know they have a problem they tend to stop but then the withdrawl is so powerful that they relapse, causing them to again use the same substance or maybe another.
Heroin
Heroin indicators were relatively stable in 2002, but continued at high levels in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Primary heroin treatment admissions ranged from 62 to 82 percent of all illicit drug admissions (excluding alcohol) in Baltimore, Boston, and Newark. Rates of heroin ED mentions exceeded 100 per 100,000 population in Chicago and Newark, and heroin/morphine-involved death mentions reported by DAWN ranged from 195 to 352 in Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. Conversely, significant decreases in ED rates were observed between the first half of 2001 and the first half of 2002 in six CEWG areas: Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix, San Diego, and Washington, DC. Of the eight CEWG areas reporting local medical examiner data on heroin/morphine-related drug mortality in 2002, figures were highest in Detroit, Philadelphia, southern Florida counties, and Phoenix. DEA data showed that heroin purity in 2001 was highest in Philadelphia (73 percent pure), and ranged from 56 to 68 percent in New York, Boston, and Newark—all areas where South American and Southwest Asian heroin are widely available.
Treatment and Recovery, some treatments for Heroin include verious methods and therapy groups. Ways to get help would to be admitting you have a problem first of all and then looking for it. There are many groups and programs that help addicts, as far as knowing where to get them common resorces such as the internet or phone books would help with searches for these programs, and family is key to getting help.There are several types of drug abuse treatment programs. Short-term methods last less than 6 months and include residential therapy, medication therapy, and drug-free outpatient therapy. Longer term treatment may include, for example, methadone maintenance outpatient treatment for opiate addicts and residential therapeutic community treatment.
Detox
Intervention
Family Therapy
Therapy
Impatient Treatment (rehab with medical and psychological help)
Methadone
Programs
There are many programs that help with Heroin addicts, but the one that is most commonly used and also abused would be Methadone. This is a meth based drug, that is taken at first at a normal heroin dose, and then decreased day by day or week by week depending on the users term of use and how often they took the drug. This is a common program used for many kinds of drugs.
Denial
Denial is what keeps Heroin addicts away from recovery or relapsing when they are starting to draw away from the drug. When confronted with the fact that they have a serious problem addicts deny that they do under any conditions, they dont believe that what they do or use affects their lives in any great way, which sooner or later can lead to hardcore drug use, leaving the addict alone in life and on their own.
Bibliography
http://www.jeantweed.com/heroin.htm
http://www.focusas.com/Heroin.html
http://www.watton.org/drugsinfo/aboutheroin.html
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/nationtrends.html
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