Heroin addiction

Heroin is a pain-relieving, psychoactive drug derived from the opium poppy. It was first synthesised in 1874 by a British scientist who experimented with morphine by mixing it with other chemicals. From these experiments he produced diacetylmorphine, also known as diamorphine or heroin. The drug went mainstream in 1898 when a German pharmaceutical company, The Bayer Co., introduced it as a pain and cough medication. Little was known then about its addictive and dangerous qualities.

Today heroin is usually seen in powder form, most commonly brown, although pure heroin is white in colour. The drug is widely known as being injected intravenously, although it can also be smoked, snorted, or inhaled, with these methods usually being deployed by newcomers to the drug. Other names for the drug include “brown”, “smack”, “skag”, and “horse”, amongst others.

Due to its highly addictive properties, frequent use of heroin will almost certainly lead to abuse and subsequent addiction, no matter how much you try to control it. Once you become addicted to heroin, your entire universe shifts to revolve around this drug. Prolonged use of heroin will give rise to observable symptoms, such as:

• Weight loss
• A runny nose
• Blue tinge to lips and nails
• Loss of menstrual cycle in women (amenorrhea)
• Cuts, bruises or scabs from skin picking
• Wearing long trousers or long sleeves even in hot weather (to hide needle marks)
• A substantial increase in time spent sleeping
• Slurred, garbled, or incoherent speech
• The sudden decline in academic or work performance
• Poor eyesight or distant field of vision and constricted pupils
• Cycles of hyper-alertness followed by sudden nodding off
• Droopy appearance (as if extremities are heavy)
• Shortness of breath
• Stomach and muscle spasms
• Disorientation and confusion
• Hostile behaviour towards loved ones
• Lack of interest in hobbies and favourite activities
• Avoiding friends and family and spending more time with new acquaintances

Other signs of heroin use include paraphernalia such as burnt spoons or foil (used for “cooking” or heating the heroin), cotton balls (used to filter the drugs), needles and syringes, shoelaces or rubber tubing (used to tie the arm off), and cut-up straws or empty pen casings (used for snorting the drug).

Heroin abuse refers to consuming heroin in quantities, ways, and/or circumstances that may cause damage to yourself or others. This will go beyond the point of recreational use.

Addiction, however, is the state of desiring – often obsessively – to take heroin regardless of any negative repercussions. The addict often cannot feel “normal” or achieve a state of wellbeing without taking the drug. In the case of heroin, this can also be accompanied by a physical dependency upon the drug which means that cessation of use will result in the onset of withdrawal symptoms.

If your loved one is experiencing heroin addiction, of course you want nothing more than to help them… but are you enabling?

Signs that you could be enabling them include: