Poster+Notes+Heroin+DW

Heroin
(Nicknames) **HORSE - CRANK - JIVE - SMACK -JUNK - SHAG - DOPE**

How is Heroin Made? Heroin is an opiate that derives from the plant Papaver Somniferum, which is found in the middle east. To get the juices out of the poppy the poppy seed is drained, and the main ingredient extracted from raw opium is morphine. Through a chemical process morphine is converted into heroin and the process begins. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/hero.html



"How Heroin Is Used Heroin can be used in a variety of ways, depending on user preference and the purity of the drug. 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."

http://www.drugfree.org/portal/drug_guide/heroin



How Does Heroin Affect the Brain?
When the heroin enters the brain it is changed into morphine. The morphine binds to opioid receptors in the brain, and those receptors affect the amount of pain felt. The receptors are located in the brain stem, and the brain stem is also responsible for areas including the respiratory system. This is why most over doses result in the failure of the respiratory system.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/heroin.html

Heroin mimicks endorphines and binds rapidly with endorphine receptors, extending and magnifying their natural painkilling effect. The result is a surge of pleasurable sensation, or "rush." This rush is usually accompanied by a warm feeling and a sense of well-being." "How does heroin work on the user.s body? When heroin is first infiltrated into a person's body, the brain's natural chemistry reacts with the heroin toxins to create what users describe as a feeling of 'euphoria'. Other heroin effects can also include dizziness, feeling as though the body has become heavy and the person cannot move, as well as nausea and a change in skin temperature. In addition, heroin users will also begin to feel tired, or as though the world no longer exists around them and their ability to function both mentally and physically will decrease. Heroin.s effects damage the nervous system and can also cause short and long term harm to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Because of the toxins in the drug, as well as the way that it is taken into the body, heroin is a drug that many people overdose on. While lucky people come out of the overdose alive and unharmed, others either die or have severe and permanent damage as a result."

http://www.heroinaddiction2.com/how-does-heroin-work.htm

"The first intravenous injection of heroin can be extremely unpleasant, causing vomiting and nausea. Often this experience is enough to scare someone away, but social and psychological pressures may motivate a person to keep trying. After a few more uses, the beneficial effects are obvious. Some users have distinguished between the "rush" and the "high." The rush lasts only one or two minutes and is said to be caused by the injected heroin bathing the brain before it gets distributed by the bloodstream and changed into a more useable form of morphine. The rush is often described as a heightened sexual orgasm, and a great relief of tension, which pervades the abdomen. After the rush, the high lasts for four or five hours and is caused by the morphine diffusing from the bloodstream into the brain. It is described as a warm, drowsy, cozy state. Addicts report a profound sense of satisfaction, as though all needs were fulfilled. There is also a pleasant state of mild dizziness that is not as impairing as alcohol's effects, and a sense of 'distancing' or apathy toward whatever is going on in the environment.

Some addicts lose the effect of euphoria, and use heroin only for relief of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Since all opiates produce cross-tolerance, the use of codeine, opium or morphine can relieve the withdrawal symptoms of heroin."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/brain/