Description
Heroin is an opioid drug most commonly used as a recreational
medication for its euphoric effects. Medically it is used in several
countries to relieve pain or in opioid replacement therapy.
What is Heroin?
Heroin is an opiate drug derived from morphine, which is itself obtained from the opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum). Techniques
vary, but most growers use either the seedpods or the straw chaff of
the flowering plant to extract a light-brown powder containing
concentrated morphine.
Opium poppies and their derivatives —
including the painkillers codeine and laudanum, the cough-suppressant
noscapine, as well as morphine — have been renowned throughout human
history.
Neolithic
burial sites in Spain show evidence of poppy use. The first recorded
reference to opium comes from 3400 B.C., when the opium poppy was grown
in Mesopotamia, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The
ancient Sumerians referred to the poppy as Hul Gil (the “joy plant”), and ancient Egyptian, Greek, Minoan, and Sanskrit texts document the use of poppy-derived medicines.
In
the early 1800s, the Opium Wars resulted when British merchants
attempted to correct a trade imbalance with China by flooding the Asian
nation with cheap opium, which resulted in widespread addiction. Chinese
officials attempted to halt the trade in opium, but invading British
troops forced China to accept open trading policies — including opium
imports — with European powers. According to Humberto Fernandez and
Therissa A. Libby, authors of “Heroin: Its History, Pharmacology, and
Treatment” (Hazelden, 2011), by 1900, China had 13.5 million addicts
consuming 39,000 metric tons of opium per year.
Medical use
It is a narcotic pain relief that is used in the treatment of severe pain.
How can we use Heroin?
It is most often injected intravenously (IV), however, it may also be:
- vaporized (“smoked”)
- sniffed (“snorted”)
- used as a suppository
- orally ingested.
Smoking
and sniffing heroin do not produce a “rush” as quickly or as intensely
as an IV injection. Oral ingestion does not usually lead to a “rush”,
but used in suppository form may have intense euphoric effects. Heroin
can be addictive by any given route.
Heroin from southwest Asia
may be ‘smoked’ by heating the solid on a metal foil above a small flame
and inhaling the vapor. Those intending to inject this form must first
solubilize it with, for example, citric acid or ascorbic acid. The
southeast Asia type is suitable for the direct injection of a solution. A
typical dose is 100 mg at street level purity. Except when used
therapeutically as a pain relief drug, ingestion of diamorphine/heroin
is a much less effective route of administration.
How heroin works
Heroin
is known by street names including “horse” and “smack.” It is often cut
with substances such as powdered milk, sugar, starch, quinine, or other
impurities, according to the DEA. (A drug may be mixed with other
compounds so the dealer can make more money on a small amount of heroin,
or give the user a better high, Krakower said.)
In powder form,
heroin can be inhaled, “snorted” into the nostrils, or smoked, Krakower
said. Many, however, prefer to inject a liquid form of the drug, as this
method can result in a faster, more intense high, he said.
Like
other opioid-based painkillers, heroin binds to opioid receptors in the
brain and spinal cord, especially to receptors that are located along
the reward pathway, such as the nucleus accumbens, according to NIDA.
The
binding results in an intense “rush” of euphoria and freedom from pain,
followed by a warming sensation and the drowsy sense of well-being
typical of opioid painkillers, Krakower said. This high can last for
several hours, depending on the strength of the dose.
Other names
A
large number of street terms are in use, including horse, Smack, Dope,
Mud, Skag, Junk, H, Black tar, Black pearl, Brown sugar, Witch hazel,
Birdie powder, Dragon, Hero, White stuff, China white, Boy, Chiva,
Mexican horse, Pluto, Skunk, Number 2
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