In the past twenty years heroin use has grown dramatically. Psychoactive
drugs have become the young person's largest problem to face. Drugs have
become a part of even the most stereotypically normal family's life. No
workplace, home, or school can be completely "drug proofed". To live with
these drugs one must learn about them. Not knowing the facts about heroin
will ultimately lead to the drugs winning the game.
Heroin is an opiate, which comes from the opium poppy. When the
opium poppy dies, a white substance is left. This substance hardens and
turns brown, becoming opium (Smith, 13). Heroin was created to treat
morphine addiction for men coming home from WWI. Only until it was too
late was heroin discovered to be more destructive than morphine.
What happens after a person uses heroin?
Heroin is an opiate or a downer that affects the brain's pleasure and
pain systems. Heroin interferes with the brain's ability to perceive pain and
activates the brain's pleasure system. Heroin is a fast-acting drug, especially
when injected or smoked. Injected heroin reaches the brain in 15-30
seconds; smoked heroin reaches the brain in 7 seconds.
It is extremely difficult to estimate how many people use heroin.
There is agreement among epidemiologists that heroin is the most under-
reported drug in terms of usage and that any usage statistics are unreliable.
Estimates range from 428,000 past-year heroin users (National Household
Survey, 1995) to 600,000 past week heroin users (Office of National Drug
Control Policy). On the other hand, some experts estimate that as many as
two to three million people in the United States use heroin recreationally.
Once a person begins using heroin, he or she quickly develops a
tolerance to the drug and needs more and more to get the same effects
(Zackon, 45). Within one month, a new user might need much more than
his/her initial dose to...