A rough guide to drugs
Legal Status Class A: Heroin carries penalties for possession of up to 7 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Supply/trafficking can carry penalties of up to life imprisonment and an unlimited fine. |
..is a white powder, but as a result of the range of substances it’s mixed with, street heroin is brown, or brownish white.
It can be smoked, snorted or dissolved in water and injected...
Snorted: this causes it to be absorbed into the bloodstream in the nose.
Smoked: the powder is heated up on tin foil, and the resulting fumes inhaled via a small tube. The smoke is drawn into the lungs, quickly entering the bloodstream, giving almost immediate effects (this is known as ‘Chasing the Dragon’).
Injected: heroin is dissolved in water and injected directly into a vein. The effects are almost immediate and stronger.
Effects & Risks
Like other opiates, heroin is a sedative drug that depresses the nervous system. Effects start quickly and can last several hours, although this varies with the amount taken and the method used.
• Heroin slows down bodily functions and can reduce physical and psychological pain.
• Most users get a ‘rush’ or ‘buzz’ a few minutes after taking it.
• A small dose of heroin gives you a feeling of warmth and well-being.
Bigger doses can make you sleepy and very relaxed.
• There’s a risk of death due to inhaling vomit as heroin stops the body’s cough reflex working properly.
• Inflammation and obstruction of veins can lead to superficial veins being used. Collapsed veins can encourage users to inject into unsafe areas such as the neck or groin.
• Injecting heroin carries all the same health risks as injecting any substance: abscesses, swelling, blood clots, vein damage, ulcers and gangrene – also, sharing injecting equipment
increases the risk of HIV and Hepatitis.
• If sniffed repeatedly, it can cause nasal damage.
• It can lead to lung disease, especially pneumonia.
• It depresses activity of the nervous system, slows breathing and heart rate.
• It can cause constipation.
• It can cause irregular menstrual cycle.
• It can lead to a reduced appetite and consequently poor nutrition.
• Taking heroin when pregnant can harm your baby.
Overdose
Overdosing on heroin can be fatal.
• Mixing with other drugs, including alcohol, increases the danger.
• With ‘street heroin’, the user is never sure of what they are getting, uncertain contents and strength can also increase the danger.
• If someone has been opiate free for a while, then tolerance levels drop; this results in an increased risk of overdose if the user starts using again at the same amount as before.
Addiction
Heroin is a physically addictive drug, and with increased use comes increased tolerance. This means that more must be taken to produce the same effects and prevent the user from feeling ill. Often the user will change their method of use to injecting to maximise effects; however, when injected tolerance builds up more quickly. Users often reach a point where they use the drug simply to feel ‘normal’, to prevent the effects of withdrawal.
Drugs have been developed to help treat heroin addiction. These include substitutes for heroin such as methadone and subutex (bupranorphine) and also drugs like naltrexone that block the effects of heroin, preventing the ‘high’.
