HEROIN THE MOST WIDELY ABUSED ILLICIT DRUG

I Have Missed A Few Weeks Due To My Vacation To Thailand.

While visiting Thailand I had an opportunity to explore the area where the
worlds opium supply has come from for many years known as the Golden Triangle.

The opium poppy is the key ingredient for all narcotics (pain killers).
Opium is a substance that is directly extracted from the opium poppy plant.

Although some narcotics are synthetic, even the synthetic drugs are made to
replicate the makeup of ingredients extracted from the opium poppy. Opium
consists of morphine, codeine, thebaine and other substances.

Opium, especially its derivative morphine, is used to make heroin, the most
widely abused narcotic.

Heroin is an illegal and highly addictive narcotic drug. It is the most
widely abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates.

Pure heroin is a white powder, but due to impurities from the manufacturing
process it can be vary in colour from white to dark brown.

Pure heroin is rarely sold on the street. Historically, the purity of
heroin ranges from one to 10 per cent. More recently, heroin purity has
ranged from one to 98 per cent.

Heroin is usually injected, snorted or smoked. Recently the method of
ingestion has moved from injection to smoking. Typically, a heroin user may
inject up to four times per day.

Short term effects: suppresses pain , euphoria, initial "rush," depressed
respiratory rate, clouded mental functioning and nausea/vomiting

Medical complications: scarred/collapsed veins , abscesses, live or kidney
disease, infectious disease, and possible fatal overdose

Long-term effects: addiction, tolerance and physical dependence, infection
of heart lining and valves, pulmonary complications

Users continue to use heroin as one of their drugs of choice to ease the
pain of the withdrawal of stimulants.

Next week: Designer drug: ecstasy