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Heroin is a white and sometimes brownish, odorless compound and is a highly addictive narcotic. Heroin is an "opiate," which means that it is one of the types of drugs that can be produced from the opium poppy. It is a central nervous system depressant that can relieve pain but can also produce feelings of drowsiness, mental confusion, and euphoria, and can cause both physical and psychological dependence. It is most commonly sold as a white or brownish powder or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as "black tar heroin." Heroin is an illegal drug that is usually injected, sniffed, or smoked. Some heroin users inject up to four times a day. Injections provide the most intensity and most rapid onset of euphoria at about 7 to 8 seconds, while when it is sniffed or smoked, effects are not felt until about 10 – 15 minutes. While the "rush" of using sniffing or smoking heroin is slower than when injecting, NIDA researches have concluded that all three forms are addictive. When heroin is being used, it creates a high by mimicking chemicals in the brain that block pain and induce a feeling of pleasure. However, after some time of heroin use, a tolerance is built up, so it takes more and more of the drug to get that "high," and therefore creating an even deeper addiction. Besides the affects that heroin can have on a person’s body by damaging the brain or causing vomiting and other problems within the body, heroin can kill a person if taken in the wrong amounts. Overdoses of heroin are fairly common, and one of the reasons for this is that heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug and its contents, and therefore putting themselves at risk for an overdose. 600,000 Americans are currently addicted to heroin, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). A 1996 survey on drug abuse concluded that an estimated 2.4 million people use heroin at some time in their lives, and nearly 216,000 of them reported using within a month before the survey. Heroin use has risen since 1992, and most of the new users have been under the age of 26. Also, the number of first-time heroin users in the age group 12 to 17 increased by four times from the 1980’s to 1995. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) estimates that 14 percent of all drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) cases involved heroin. Between 1988 and 1994, the number of ED cases that involved heroin increased by 64 percent.
The affects of heroin go beyond just affecting the people who use it. The economical effect that heroin has had is also great, as billions of dollars are spent yearly by drug users and by authorities trying to prevent drug use. It is estimated that heroin users spend about $50 a day on their habit, making it very difficult for them to keep this up when the addiction becomes too strong. This leads many of these users to begin a life of crime, as the addiction forces them to steal to be able to pay for their need for the drug. Drug users in the United States spend approximately $90 billion yearly, and about $8 billion is spent on drug enforcement yearly. It is interesting to think that if nobody used illegal drugs, then there would be no drug enforcement needed, and therefore there would be almost 100 billion dollars that could be used for healthier purposes. In society today, heroin's reputation as an "in" drug can be seen everywhere from commercials to movies to celebrities who have used heroin. Many people around the country are worried that heroin is becoming a "mainstream" drug, and that people do not understand the actual dangers of using heroin, while thinking that heroin is "cool." For example, a Calvin Klein advertisement shows a skinny, glassy-eyed man with a pale stare that are characteristics of a heroin user. When people see an advertisement like that, it sends the message that it is OK to look like that and that heroin does not affect your body in a negative way. Movies like the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction and the 1995 movie Basketball Diaries have several heroin scenes in them. Also, there are many high-profile celebrities who have been known to have heroin addictions. Celebrities like Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain, Robert Downey, Jr., and Courtney Love all have used heroin. The youth of America are getting the wrong perception about heroin when they see that celebrities they look up to use heroin.
THIS SITE WAS CREATED BY CHRISTIAN VON KANTZOW