Definition:

Heroin is a sedative made from morphine and that affects the brain cells adversely. Heroin is one of the strongest types of drugs that cause physiological addiction. Heroin was discovered in 1898, and became more known as an addictive substance than morphine.

Heroin is a white or sepia (dark brown) powder.

It is also known as: Brown sugar, horse, smack, scag, dope, big H, black tar, junk.

Heroin can be mixed with water and injected in the muscle, or mixed and smoked with marijuana, cigarette, and water pipe or even inhaled as powder.

Heroin’s close-term effects:

Heroin’s effect starts right after taking the dose, and remains for a few hours during which the drug abuser experiences a great ecstasy, accompanied by dryness in the mouth and heaviness in organs as well as skin blushing. Then, the abuser’s states swings between vigilance and sleepiness, and his thinking, moving and speaking ability become slower.

As for the other symptoms, they include vomiting, constipation, eyelid laxity, reduced pupil, in addition to the inability to see clearly.

Heroin’s long-term effects:

The chronic addict suffers from lungs’ problems as a result of the effect of heroin on his respiratory system, in addition to a weakness in the arteries, inflammations in the heart and valves (Carditis) and liver diseases.

These problems are not the result of the drug’s impact on the body solely, but also the result of its composition which includes sometimes non-soluble substances which cause a blockage in the arteries, lungs, heart, liver, kidneys and brain. This might engender damage of the cells in major organs of the body.

Abstinence phenomena begin a few hours after taking the last dose and include bones and muscles’ pains in addition to insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, and chills. These symptoms disappear about a week after taking the last dose. Still the abrupt abstinence might lead to the abuser’s death.