WHY YOU NEED HEROIN LIKE A HOLE IN THE HEAD

CHASING the dragon-the practice of inhaling heroin fumes-can cause
spongy holes in the brain, according to neurologists in New York.

Dragon chasers heat up their heroin then inhale the fumes through a
straw made of aluminium foil. The method has become popular as it
avoids the risk of HIV infection from injecting the drug with
contaminated syringes.

But sometimes the practice can seriously damage the brain, says Arnold
Kriegstein of Columbia University. He and his colleagues have treated
three people who showed brain damage after taking the drug. The worst
affected was a 21-year-old woman who had been chasing the dragon for
six months. When Kriegstein saw her, she could no longer speak or sit
up. The woman's condition continued to worsen even after she had quit
the drug. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed spongy holes in
her brain's white matter, a condition called progressive spongiform
leukoencephalopathy. Worst hit was the cerebellum, a part of the brain
at the back of the head that deals with fine motor skills.

The damage also spread forwards.

It's a distinctive pattern," says Kriegstein.

Kriegstein thinks something mixed with the heroin or in the aluminium
foil might have been to blame.

The pattern of damage in the brain is strikingly similar to that
caused by triethyltin poisoning, he says. But after analysing the
aluminium foil that was used in these cases, he decided it couldn't be
responsible. "The amounts of tin seemed too low."