What is Heroin and how is it used?
Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive
drug. It is both the most abused and the
most rapidly acting of the opiates. Heroin
is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring
substance extracted from the seed pod of
certain varieties of poppy plants. It is
typically sold as a white or brownish powder
or as the black sticky substance known on
the streets as "black tar heroin." Although
purer heroin is becoming more common, most
street heroin is "cut" with other drugs or
with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered
milk, or quinine. Street heroin can also
be cut with strychnine or other poisons.
Because heroin abusers do not know the actual
strength of the drug or its true contents,
they are at risk of overdose or death. Heroin
also poses special problems because of the
transmission of HIV and other diseases that
can occur from sharing needles or other injection
equipment.
What is the scope of heroin use in the
United States?
According to the 1998 National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse, which may actually
underestimate illicit opiate (heroin) use,
an estimated 2.4 million people had used
heroin at some time in their lives, and nearly
130,000 of them reported using it within
the month preceding the survey. The survey
report estimates that there were 81,000 new
heroin users in 1997. A large proportion
of these recent new users were smoking, snorting,
or sniffing heroin, and most (87 percent)
were under age 26. In 1992, only 61 percent
were younger than 26.
The 1998 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN),
which collects data on drug-related hospital
emergency department (ED) episodes from 21
metropolitan areas, estimates that 14 percent
of all drug-related ED episodes involved
heroin. Even more alarming is the fact that
between 1991 and 1996, heroin-related ED
episodes more than doubled (from 35,898 to
73,846). Among youths aged 12 to 17, heroin-related
episodes nearly quadrupled.
NIDA, which provides information about the
nature and patterns of drug use in 21 cities,
reported in its December 1999 publication
that heroin was mentioned most often as the
primary drug of abuse in drug abuse treatment
admissions in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles,
Newark, New York, and San Francisco.
How is heroin used?
Heroin is usually injected, sniffed/snorted,
or smoked. Typically, a heroin abuser may
inject up to four times a day. Intravenous
injection provides the greatest intensity
and most rapid onset of euphoria (7 to 8
seconds), while intramuscular injection produces
a relatively slow onset of euphoria (5 to
8 minutes). When heroin is sniffed or smoked,
peak effects are usually felt within 10 to
15 minutes. Although smoking and sniffing
heroin do not produce a "rush" as quickly
or as intensely as intravenous injection,
NIDA researchers have confirmed that all
three forms of heroin administration are
addictive.
Injection continues to be the predominant
method of heroin use among addicted users
seeking treatment; however, researchers have
observed a shift in heroin use patterns,
from injection to sniffing and smoking. In
fact, sniffing/snorting heroin is now the
most widely reported means of taking heroin
among users admitted for drug treatment in
Newark, Chicago, and New York.
With the shift in heroin abuse patterns
comes an even more diverse group of users.
Older users (over 30) continue to be one
of the largest user groups in most national
data. However, the increase continues in
new, young users across the country who are
being lured by inexpensive, high-purity heroin
that can be sniffed or smoked instead of
injected. Heroin has also been appearing
in more affluent communities.
Source: National Institute on Drug Addiction |
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