Heroin

Heroin is an incredibly dangerous drug. It is a type of drug called an opiate. This class of drugs also includes prescription pills including Oxycontin, Vicodin, or Percocet, usually prescribed to relieve pain.

It affects certain pain receptors in the brain so as to not only relieve perception of pain but to cause a euphoria and sense of well-being. Heroin and other opiates are one of the classes of drugs that cause extreme physical dependence as well as psychological addiction.

Heroin can be used in powder form (snorted or smoked), dissolved in water (injected), or heated and inhaled.

Injecting heroin intravenously is especially dangerous. Addicts can develop horrible infections at the site of injection, sometimes life-threatening as bacteria can travel to the heart. Often, heroin users share needles; this can immediately transfer hepatitis or HIV from one person to another.

Sometimes heroin addicts will try to stop using on their own. Withdrawal from heroin and other opiates causes very extreme discomfort, as the addict will experience pain in the nerves throughout their body. They often feel as if even their bones are aching, and their skin will crawl, and they will experience intense sweating, nausea and vomiting. This will often last for several days, and many heroin addicts will not be able to tolerate the discomfort and will feel they need to begin using again.

Some users will seek help with a drug called methadone at city-run clinics. Methadone can help with withdrawal symptoms in the short-term if taken daily for a time; however, this drug is addictive as well.

The best way to effect recovery from addiction to heroin or any opiate is to attend drug addiction treatment centers, or “rehabs.” In treatment centers, the addict will go through a medical detox whereby they are made to feel as comfortable as possible while taking special medications such as Suboxone. These drugs are generally non-addictive and will be a “step down” as the addict discontinues use in a safe and comfortable environment.

In drug addiction rehabs, the addict will be surrounded with peers in a place completely away from triggers and their usual sources of opiates. They will attend group and individual therapy to get to the root

of their problems that have caused them to begin heavy heroin use in the first place. An addiction treatment program generally lasts 30 to 90 days; this period of time allows the user to detox, work on their recovery, and prepare to enter life again. More information about what goes on in rehab can be found here.