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Heroin Abuse and its Effects

Heroin is the most commonly abused drug in the world today. Extracted from the Asian poppy plant as a naturally occurring substance, morphine, it is usually sold as a white or brown powder or as a sticky black substance known as ‘black tar heroin’. It contains fast acting and extremely addictive qualities that have made its use a major problem for societies across the globe.

Heroin can be injected, smoked or snorted with its affects taking place at varying times depending on the amount and practise used. Injecting the drug intravenously, straight into a vein, provides a greater concentration and a quicker beginning to the feelings of exhilaration experienced by the user, usually within 7 to 8 seconds. Intramuscular injections, straight into a muscle, produce a slower onset of feelings normally inside 5 to 8 minutes. A user who injects the drug will commonly inject heroin on up to four occasions a day.

When smoking or snorting heroin, the effects are felt within 10 to 15 minutes and although using it in this way doesn’t produce the same instant ‘rush’ as an injection, they are both still considered addictive methods for using heroin.

Shortly after heroin use, the chemicals of the drug will enter the brain quickly, evading the structure which is meant to protect it from materials in the blood, the blood-brain barrier. It is this rapid delivery to the brain that makes heroin such an addictive drug. Once through this barrier, heroin is converted to morphine as it bonds with the opioid receptors in the brain, leading to the ‘rush’ of euphoria experienced by the user.

The effects of heroin can be short-term and long-term, affecting both body and mind.

Users will not only experience the satisfying sensation heroin delivers, but they may also encounter short-term problems with respiration, sickness and vomiting and have trouble functioning physically and mentally. After the drugs effects wear off, the user will feel drowsy for a few hours as their breathing and heart function slows, at times resulting in death.

Long-term effects of use not only include becoming addicted to heroin, but can also result in collapsed veins, abscesses and bacterial infections; or worse, contracting diseases such as HIV and AIDS or hepatitis B and C through the use of shared needles when injecting.