Heroin

Heroin enters the brain quickly. It slows down the way you think, slows down reaction time, and slows down memory. This affects the way you act and make decisions. It poses special problems for those who inject it because of the risks of HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles.

Heroin is highly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. It particularly affects those regions of the brain responsible for producing physical dependence.

Street names/slang terms:
Smack, mud, dope, horse, junk, brown sugar, big H, black tar, chiva (chee-va)

Drug Type:
Heroin is a "downer" that affects the brain's pleasure systems and interferes with the brain's ability to perceive pain. It is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained from the opium poppy.

What does it look like?
White to dark brown powder or tar-like substance.

How is it used?
Heroin can be injected into a vein ("mainlining"), injected into a muscle, smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as "chasing the dragon," snorted as powder via the nose.

Short-term Effects:
• warm flushing of the skin
• dry mouth
• depression of the central nervous system
• slurred speech, slow gait
• constricted pupils, droopy eyelids
• impaired night vision
• drug craving
• restlessness, insomnia
• muscle, bone pain
• vomiting
• constipation
• dry, itching skin
• decreased sexual pleasure, indifference to sex

Long-term Effects:
• addiction
• collapsed veins
• infection of the heart lining and valves
• respiratory depression or failure
• abscesses
• cellulites
• liver disease
• pulmonary complications including pneumonia
• clogging of blood vessels
• cold flashes with goose bumps
• involuntary kicking movements

Source: Partnership for a Drug-Free America, NIDA, DEA