How is heroin taken?
Heroin can be injected, smoked, or sniffed/snorted. The increased availability of high-purity heroin and the fear of infection through sharing needles have made snorting and smoking the drug more common. Heroin can be mixed with tobacco or marijuana and smoked in a pipe or cigarette. It may also be heated and burned, releasing fumes that users inhale (“chasing the dragon”). No matter how it is taken, heroin is highly addictive. How Does Heroin Affect the User? The short-term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear within a few hours. Users report experiencing a surge of euphoria (“rush”) accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the arms and legs. Following the initial rush, the user goes “on the nod,” an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. What are the Dangers of Heroin Abuse? Heroin abuse is associated with serious health condit
Heroin can be swallowed, smoked, inhaled (“snorted”), or injected. Recently, many heroin users have been smoking or snorting the drug in an effort to avoid contaminated “rigs” or “works” (hypodermic needles and syringes). Although some users believe that heroin does not produce physical dependence when snorted or smoked, this is untrue. A person can become physically dependent on heroin regardless of the route of administration. What are the acute (immediate) effects of heroin? The three basic signs of heroin use are: • Sedation • Euphoria (intoxication) • Analgesia (pain relief) Few if any other drugs have all three of these characteristics. In addition: • Soon after being administered, heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. • In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds (attaches) rapidly to opioid receptors. • Heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. • Those abusers who inject (“shoot”, “fire”, “slam”, “mainline”) heroin typically report f
When prescribed, narcotics are most often taken by mouth. Heroin, however, is generally inhaled or injected, although it may also be smoked. The availability of high-purity heroin in recent years, the spread of HIV infection among intravenous (IV) users, and the negative stereotype of the IV addict prompt many new users to limit themselves to inhaling the drug. They will “snort” or “sniff” powder into their nostrils (some dissolve it in nose drops). Heroin can be mixed with tobacco or marijuana and smoked in a pipe or cigarette. It may also be heated and burned, releasing fumes that users inhale (“chasing the dragon”). Injection, in addition to producing a “rush,” is an economical route of administration. By injecting the drug, rather than smoking or inhaling it, the same effects are achieved with less heroin. Users who choose this route generally inject directly into a major vein (“mainlining”), although some may start by injecting under the skin (“popping”). Heroin abusers often use
Heroin can be taken in a number of ways, but the most common is for the powder to be dissolved in water and injected. It can be injected subcutaneously (under the skin, also sometimes known as “skin popping”), intramuscularly (deep into muscle tissue) or intravenously (into a vein). It is also sometimes smoked by either adding it to a hand-rolled tobacco or cannabis cigarette or a pipe. It can also be smoked by heating the heroin and inhaling the smoke (this is sometimes called “chasing the dragon”). Occasionally heroin is snorted (sniffed through the nose) or swallowed.
