An opiate that belongs to the morphine-codeine family, heroin goes by the chemical name of diacetylmorphine. This vastly illegal drug is derived from the opium poppy.
Heroin is among the easiest of drugs to become addicted to. Many heroin addicts need no more than just one attempt at the drug to become addicted, even if mildly at first. Like many other drugs, heroin is used intravenously, or through smoking or snorting through the nostrils. Of these, the method most abusers prefer is injection, because the effect that is got from this method is considered the highest. This makes it the most popular method of use of heroin.
Effects of heroin: Heroin has its own way of working on the system. It primarily acts on the central nervous system initially. It starts acting within seven seconds of ingestion, when taken intravenously. In the few seconds of its being absorbed into the system, heroin can cause euphoria.
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Heroin is an opiate derived from the opium poppy. Opiates have long been used in pain relief and heroin is in the same category. In the UK, a cocktail is made from heroin and alcohol and given to terminally ill cancer patients to relieve them of pain.
Heroin use has been popular with teenagers since about the sixties and reached alarming proportions in the US in the nineties. It is still used by teenagers and adolescents though it is becoming increasingly difficult to procure.
Heroin is rapid-acting, and one of the fastest drugs to become addictive. Most users start by snorting or smoking, secure in a misguided belief that in so doing the drug is not addictive. But this is not the case, and once the body becomes addicted they graduate to injecting themselves. Users typically relate experiencing a surge of pleasurable sensation, a “rush”, the intensity of which depends on the quantity taken and the speed at which it reaches the brain. With regular use intolerance sets in which requires greater or more frequent doses to satisfy the addiction.
Here are some of the symptoms that can warn parents of drug abuse:
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