WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... HEROIN

Heroin is in the class of drugs called opiates.

What does it do to your mind/body?

Opiates block the body's reaction to pain. Medically prescribed opiates like morphine relieve physical pain. Self-prescribed opiates (taken without a doctor's permission) may be a way for users to deaden emotional pain. Heroin, a powerful opiate, is primarily injected with a needle into the vein. One dose might last 4 to 6 hours before the heroin user has to shoot up again.

Heroin used in combination with alcohol or cocaine can cause:

• serum hepatitis (a viral infection)
• skin abscesses
• inflammation of the veins
• heart disease

Heroin is particularly dangerous because

• the user never knows "how much" to take or what else (drug or non-drug) might be mixed in with the heroin
• sharing needles amongst IV (intravenous) drug users is fast becoming the leading cause of new AIDS cases

IS IT ADDICTIVE?

Yes, heroin is highly addictive. Users find they have persistent, repeated craving for the drug. It's not unusual for heroine users to shoot up 4 times a day, just to feel "normal". They also need increasingly higher doses of the drug to get the same effect lower doses used to provide. Any attempts to stop using heroin lead to significant and painful physical withdrawal symptoms.

Heroin withdrawal symptoms include:

• shallow breathing nausea panic insomnia
• watery eyes, runny nose, yawning, loss of appetite, tremors, chills
• sweating, muscle cramps
• elevations in blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and body temperature

Find out more about heroin.