Medical Questions » Illegal Drugs Questions » Question No. 535
| Question: | Would you please tell me all about heroin? Its use seems to becoming an epidemic. |
| Answer: | Heroin is a drug that causes exaggerated happiness, relief of pain, a feeling of unreality, and a sensation of bodily detachment. It is normally administered by addicts to themselves as an injection directly into the veins. As sterile techniques are often not followed, the veins and skin at the injection site become infected and scarred. Heroin and other narcotics may also be inhaled or eaten, but they have a much slower effect than if injected.
Most abusers of heroin have personality disorders, antisocial behaviour, or are placed in situations of extreme stress. One quarter of heroin addicts will die within ten years of commencing the habit as a direct result of the heroin use. A rising proportion will die from complications of the intravenous injections such as AIDS, septicaemia and hepatitis B, C and D.
Heroin abuse is often combined with abuse of alcohol, smoking and synthetic drugs.
Physiological problems associated with narcotic addiction include vomiting, constipation, brain damage (personality changes, paranoia), nerve damage (persistent pins and needles or numbness), infertility, impotence, stunting of gtowth in children, difficulty in breathing (to the point of stopping breathing if given in high doses) and low blood pressure.
Withdrawal causes vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing, twitching, fever, crying, excessive sweating, generalised muscle pain, rapid breathing and an intense desire for the drug. These symptoms can commence within 8 to 12 hours of the last dose, and peaks at 48 to 72 hours after withdrawal. Mild symptoms may persist for up to six months.
Most people with heroin addiction who wish to withdraw from the drug are placed on methadone, a narcotic which is less addictive and less damaging than heroin. This is supplied on a daily basis (usually in liquid form) by a clinic or pharmacist, then slowly withdrawn over many months. A new drug, naltrexone, is being used experimentally to flush out heroin from the body, and relieve the addiction within a few days. This process must be undertaken under strict supervision in a specialised clinic.
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