Heroin Addiction And Drug Detox

The use of heroine in the United States by the general population has been pretty steady over the past several years

. According to the latest available statistics on heroin use USA, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2004, approximately 1.3% of Americans have ever used heroin. This is lifetime usage, not current users or numbers dependent on heroin. In the same survey the percentage using heroin in the last 12 months was 0.2% with about half that number (0.1%) having used in the last 30 days.

Approximately 0.6% of Americans regularly use opiates. This ranks 17th in the World where Iran has the highest usage at 2.8%. This is not regular usage, but usage of people dependent on opiates. Another piece of data from a study on opiate addiction found that usage among people without jobs is 20 times that of people that hold down full-time, or even part-time, jobs. Apparently some people in the United States can down jobs and use opiates recreationally, but these people make up just over 1% of the employed population while amongst the unemployed opiates usage is more than 3%. So, there is plenty of evidence to suggest there are a number of recreational users whose lives aren't impacted by their recreational usage.

Heroine can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the purity of the drug and the preference of the user. "Mainlining" it involved injecting it into a vein, but it can also be injected into the muscle. Other forms of delivery include smoking it through a pipe, or inhaling the smoke (AKA "chasing the dragon"), or snorted as powder nasally.

The short-term effects of heroine usage appear soon after it reaches your bloodstream, and they disappear after a couple of hours. When it is injected, the drug user feels a rush of euphoria followed by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and weighted limbs. After this the drug user goes into an alternating state of wakefulness and drowsiness. Because the drug depresses the central nervous system, mental functioning becomes difficult, speech becomes slurred, physically activity slows down, eyelids droop, vomiting can occur, and oftentimes constipation (as with most opiates).

Longer term effects of heroine usage can include pulmonary complications due to infection of the heart lining and valves, collapsed veins, and various types of pneumonia due to the general poor lifestyle of the chronic heroine user, or addict. In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroine most often has substances added to increase the volume of the product available for sale thereby increasing the profits of the dealer. These additives may not always be dissolved once the heroine is introduced into the bloodstream resulting in clogging of the blood vessels that lead to vital organs.

If you or a loved one has developed an addiction to opiates and is wishing to get help, the first step in the recovery process would be going through a drug detox process where the opiates are given a chance to leave the tissues of the body. Because the withdrawal symptoms can be difficult and include nausea, body aches, cravings, cold sweats, and insomnia it is generally best if you seek professional help. A good quality opiate detox program will last about 10 days and include prescription medications to help ease the pain of withdrawals and get you on the right track to recovering from your opiate addiction and leading a product, sober life.

by: Michael Graham.

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