Herion Use Abuse

Heroin is a highly addictive drug and is the most widely abused and 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. (4)

Pure heroin, which is a white powder with a bitter taste, is rarely sold on the streets. Most illicit heroin is a powder varying in color from white to dark brown. The differences in color are due to impurities left from the manufacturing process or the presence of additives. Another form of heroin, "black tar" heroin, is primarily available in the western and southwestern U.S. This heroin, which is produced in Mexico, may be sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, with its color varying from dark brown to black. Heroin can be injected, smoked, or sniffed/snorted. Injection is the most efficient way to administer low-purity heroin. The availability of high-purity heroin and the fear of infection by sharing needles have made snorting and smoking the drug more common. (4)

The U.S. heroin market is supplied entirely from foreign sources of opium. Heroin available in the U.S. is produced in four geographical areas: South America (Colombia), Southeast Asia (primarily Burma), Mexico, and Southwest Asia (principally Afghanistan).

An estimated 90 percent of the world's opium gum production occurs in Afghanistan. However, most of the heroin used in the United States comes from poppies grown in Colombia and Mexico, although their opium gum production accounts for less than four percent of the world's total production. Mexico's geographical location allows Mexican growers and refiners to supply an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the U.S. heroin market, primarily west of the Mississippi River. Colombia supplies heroin to most of the remainder of the states east of the Mississippi. (1)

There are many different types of heroin effects that a drug user can experience, and heroin effects can be extremely detrimental to a person's mind and body. Heroin is an opiate derived from the drug morphine, and its highly addictive properties and quick acting-effects made it a popular street drug immediately. Heroin is a relatively pricey drug; however, even after a person uses it for the first time, he/she will most likely become addicted to the heroin effects that are felt. The idea of 'heroin chic' was popularized through advertising and films in the eighties and early nineties and told viewers that heroin effects such as losing one's appetite and becoming ghastly and pale were attractive. In reality, a heroin user's body is unable to function normally, and once heroin is put into the body the person no longer has any desires but to find more of the drug. (5_

Heroin can be smoked, snorted and injected intravenously, however the heroin effects felt from injecting the drug are often more intense, therefore more desirable. In recent years, with the large outbreak of drug-related HIV and AIDS cases, users have tried to be more cautious and have looked to snorting and smoking as alternatives. Aside from the heroin effects risk of contracting incurable and fatal diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, the drug's addictive quality makes it extremely difficult for a user to ever try to stop.

When heroin is first infiltrated into a person's body, the brain's natural chemistry reacts with the heroin toxins to create what users describe as a feeling of 'euphoria'. Other heroin effects can also include dizziness, feeling as though the body has become heavy and the person cannot move, as well as nausea and a change in skin temperature. In addition, heroin users will also begin to feel tired, or as though the world no longer exists around them and their ability to function both mentally and physically will decrease. Heroin effects damage the nervous system and can also cause short and long term harm to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Because of the toxins in the drug, as well as the way that it is taken into the body, heroin is a drug that many people overdose on. While lucky people come out of the overdose alive and unharmed, others either die or have severe and permanent damage as a result.

Heroin users that continue to use the drug will find that they feel the heroin effect of addiction start to take control of them. Once a user comes down off the high the desire to obtain more of the drug grows in the form of an obsession or craving. With this obsession also comes a higher tolerance for the drug, meaning more is needed to experience the same heroin effects and high.

If and when a person comes down off heroin, he/she will experience a painful period from detoxing off of the heroin effects. Withdrawal symptoms can include diarrhea, convulsions, vomiting, and uncontrollable body movements. These heroin effects are quit possibly some of the most uncomfortable, however they will only last for a few days and can be effectively treated with a medical detox and drug treatment.

Heroin abuse during pregnancy has been associated with adverse consequences including low birth weight, an important risk factor for later developmental delay. Methadone maintenance combined with prenatal care and a comprehensive drug treatment program can improve many of the detrimental maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with untreated heroin abuse, although infants exposed to methadone during pregnancy typically require treatment for withdrawal symptoms. In the United States, several studies have found buprenorphine to be equally effective and as safe as methadone in the adult outpatient treatment of opioid dependence. Given this efficacy among adults, current studies are attempting to establish the safety and effectiveness of buprenorphine in opioid-dependent pregnant women. (7)

Heroin, produced primarily in South America, is an increasing threat to Virginia. Southeast Asian, Southwest Asian, and Mexican black tar and brown powdered heroin also are available. Most new heroin abusers in Virginia are young adults who snort the drug rather than inject it. The number of admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities for heroin abuse ranked third behind cocaine and marijuana from 1995 through 1999. Heroin was a factor in more drug-related deaths in Virginia in 2000 than any other drug. Heroin is readily available in the Central Virginia and Tidewater areas and is an emerging threat to Winchester. Dominican criminal groups based in New York City and Philadelphia transport wholesale quantities of South American heroin into Virginia and distribute the drug at the wholesale level. African American criminal groups based in Virginia frequently travel to New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., to purchase wholesale quantities of heroin and return to Virginia where they distribute the drug at the