Heroin And Its Effects On The Mind And Body

Heroin, a powerful narcotic, acts upon the brain as a painkiller, increasing physical addiction and ongoing emotional dependence (Schaffer Library of…). Heroin has many challenging and highly risky effects on the user, all the more hazardous if overdosing is present. This extremely dangerous drug, heroin, will never cease being used, but may cease the existence of an individual.

This paper is intended to educate those who almost nothing about heroin and those who use it. Many people have been associated with friends or families who have used some kind of drug. There are many people who have not had any contact with heroin users or if they have, don’t understand much about it. Using various sources about heroin to explain where it came from, how it is used, who uses it and how a person starts on the path towards heroin, preventing addiction, and global issues surrounding this drug. Although the topic of heroin is inexhaustible, it is my hope to spark reader’s curiosity. Knowledge of this drug might just help the reader join in on discussions about heroin.

Heroin itself can be taken in three ways, injecting a solution of heroin and water into your vein, snorting it, or inhaling it. A person will receive maximum effects if they inject it. Basically heroin makes people feel as if they are in a state of Euphoria for a small amount of time, and cause people to be drowsy warm and content, which kind of detaches you from pain.

A huge epidemic that is obtaining a lot of attention from Congress and medical professionals across the county is the spiking heroin overdoses that are rising at alarming rates. (Krisberg, 2014). My question to everyone that is researching this topic is this:

My informative essay will discuss the unfortunate and accidental path of becoming a heroin addict. Heroin is an opiate that contains the same components as narcotic pain medications. There are people in this world that become dependent on opiates and strongly feel they can’t live without them. Pain medications are the number one source that links them to heroin use.

Heroin provides a rush feeling in the brain which is can be accompanied by the following symptoms; a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities. The following side effects often present themselves nausea, vomiting and severe itching. After the initial effects of heroin have faded, abusers will be drowsy for several hours. With heroin the individual's mental function is often clouded because of the drugs effect on the central nervous system. Long term abuse of the drug can result in respiratory and cardiac functions slowing this are often the cause of death in heroin

“Heroin has analgesic and euphoric properties” (Abadinsky, 2014, p. 45). When the drug is taken and enters the body, heroin relieves pain, works as a sedative, decreases one’s anxiety, relaxes muscles, slows motor activity, drowsiness, and a feel of well being (Abadinsky, 2014). When taken, heroin will typically start to work within ten seconds, depending the method used to ingest the drug (Abadinsky, 2014). Most users will take a needle full of heroin after he or she cooked the powder into a liquid, and injected through the skin into a vein (Abadinsky, 2014). Heroin can also be smoked by inhaling the fumes like when marijuana is smoked (Abadinsky, 2014). There are four different stages that can occur when a person uses heroin, including the rush, the high, the nod, and being straight (Abadinsky, 2014). The rush is when the user experiences multiple types of euphoric feelings, instinctive sensations, a flushed face, and deeper vocals (Abadinsky, 2014). “Heroin activates brain systems that are responsible for reinforcing peoperties of such natural rewards as food and sex” (Abadinsky, 2014, p. 45). The high is a feeling of well-being that can last for hours, but the high can be less effective depending on the user’s tolerance to the drug (Abadinsky, 2014). Therefore, if a user has a high tolerance to the high, he or she must increase dose size in order to experience the effects of the high (Abadinsky,

Heroin has been a quiet crisis on the rise over the last few decades, wreaking havoc on communities and families. Hesitance to talk about the heroin crisis makes it difficult to fight the growing trend of abuse. According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, the increase of heroin abuse has risen 80 percent since 2002 (Jones). The medical effects of addicts abusing their bodies and neglecting their health are a variety of medical conditions. A short term abuser may experience depressed respiration, distorted mental functioning, nausea and vomiting (Volkow). The long term effects of heroin abuse can be addiction, infectious disease as in HIV, hepatitis B and C, collapsed veins, bacterial infections, abscesses and infection of the heart

Heroin is a white or brown powder. Sometimes it’s a black paste that's known as black tar heroin. Heroin is wicked by many other drugs, sugar, flour and milk. It may have a vinegar smell to it. People who do heroin usually snort or smoke it. There is also an option to inject the drug into your body. It costs $70 to $300 a gram. “In the brain, heroin is converted into morphine, which binds to opioid receptors. This causes a pleasurable "rush," and a user's skin becomes warm and flushed. The user's arms and legs may feel heavy. Some users experience severe itching and vomiting. After the rush, a user's heart rate and breathing slow down, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin is considered highly addictive. Euphoria occurs within seconds of an intravenous injection, five

Heroin has been around since the 1960s’. It was first used as a cure for tuberculosis and soon became a bigger problem. Many people have died from the use of Heroin because of the fact that they do not know how much heroin can affect hem. Sure it will make the feel good the first time they take, but once your body becomes dependent it can be a very time consuming and painful experience. Crime rates have and are slightly increasing because of the use of Heroin. Heroin should not be used due to the fact that it affects your mental and physical health, and it has the ability to lead to many horrible symptoms due to it.

Heroin in the USA has become an ever increasing problem that we must work hard to solve. It is taking over people’s lives and their family’s lives as well. Nevertheless, heroin is not going away any time soon, therefore we have to find a way to prevent people from overdosing, contracting STDs through shared needles, and try finding any other way to help heroin addicts, one of which is by introducing anti-opiate drugs, such as Naxaloone, Methadone, and Buprenorphine ← THIS SENTENCE IS A COMMA SPLICE. These said drugs would fight all the heroin-induced chemicals, until eradicating the necessity for heroin. It is essentially like rewiring your brain to get rid of the opiates.

ruining not only the lives of users but also the lives of the people around them. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the national number in the United States of heroin overdose deaths in 2014 alone was around eleven thousand, a number that is six times higher than it was only fifteen years ago in 2001, and it continues to rise. The issue of heroin is growing not only nationally but even locally in central Illinois, and is an undesirable epidemic that should not only be recognized as a pressing local issue, but also a dangerous street narcotic that has negative life-changing consequences that affect an individual personally and affect others indirectly.

Psychological effects are very pronounced. To a heroin addict there is only two groups of people, the user and everyone else. The addict will often surround himself with other users. This ensures a continued supply of the drug as well as someone who will keep their dirty secret. This is also dangerous on two other related front. Since HIV and hepatitis can be transmitted with a shared needle they append other health related issues. The effect continues when the addiction causes a person to withdraw from their family, careers are ruined, debt increases and illegal activities is perpetrated. For most addicts there is only three consequences. They are incarceration, mental hospital or death.

Heroin is an addictive, illegal opioid painkiller derived from morphine. This analgesic drug produces stress-relieving effects along with a sense of euphoria. Addiction to heroin generally begins as an addiction to another substance: marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, or prescription painkillers. Overdose on heroin can cause many complications including coma and death. This risk is commonly increased by combining heroin with alcohol or by cutting it in with other drugs. Injection of heroin also puts one at a significantly increased risk of contracting HIV, Hepatisis, other disease carried in the bloodstream (CDC, 2015). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), 8,200 people died from heroin-related overdose deaths in the United States in 2013. This number has been climbing steadily over the past decade and continues to climb today within certain demographics and age groups.

Users report experiencing intense pleasure and numbness of pain.  Each time the brain is exposed to heroin, it craves more of the drug to get the same effectiveness, which in turn causes the person to build up a tolerance.  The person begins to spiral into a vicious cycle of using more and more of the drug until they ultimately become addicted.  Heroin raises blood pressure and heart rate.  Overtime, the brain is physically altered and the white brain matter deteriorates.  This causes a decline in the person’s ability to make good decisions.   In the case of an overdose, the rate of breathing is lowered causing a lack of oxygen to the body.  Narcan is a drug that can be administered to combat the effects of heroin, however, it needs to be given before the heart stops.  There have been some people who seek an ultimate high and have purposely overdosed on heroin, with the hope that Narcan will prevent death.  Sadly, too often this plan does not work and the person has died as a result.