Heroin is a drug in the group known as opioids...This group includes such other drugs as morphine...codeine...pethidine...oxycodone and methodone... It is a depressant so as other depressants it slows the central nervous system down and the messages that go from the brain to the body...

Heroin has a few different appearances...from a white fine powder form to off white coloured granules or even in a brown rock form...It has no smell but a bitter taste...That is why in the police shows you see the police tasting white powders...Apparently it is quite bitter...

Heroin is used in a few ways but is usually injected right into the vein... It can be smoked by adding it to marijuana or cigarettes...this is called chasing the dragon among users...It can also be snorted...It has quite a few street names Skag, dope, Chinese H, smack, H, slow, harry, horse, china white, white dynamite, homebake, poison, hammer, gear and elephant...

There are with herion, as all drugs immediate effects that will last anywhere between 3 and 4 hours...Some of the immediate effects of heroin are confusion or a sense of wellbeing and pleasure, Pain relief, slowed down breathing, pupils smaller than normal, blood pressure and heart rate lower, difficulty with co ordination and even slurred or slowed down speech...Sometimes it even causes vomiting or a sick feeling...In larger doses you can have all or some of these effects plus find it hard to concentrate, fall asleep, breathing slows down more, itchiness and a need to urinate are also likely...

When a large amount of heroin is used there obviously is a higher risk of overdose...An overdose can cause death as the heartbeat becomes irregular and the body tempurature becomes very low...An overdose is not only caused by injecting tooo much heroin but also depends on the purity of it but if heroin is used with alcohol or even with sedatives this can cause an overdose as well...

When an overdose of heroin does occur usually the treating doctor or the ambulance guys will inject the drug naloxone to restart breathing in the user...Usually depending on the amount the user has had this might just bring the user back enough to breath but still feel stoned...After this has been given if a user uses again on this day they are in real danger of overdosing again as this will combine with the already taken amount and next time they might not be so lucky...

Short term and long term effects of this drug apart from overdosing are...Skin infections or heart and lung infections there is also things like hepatitis A and HIV to be thought of from the use of needles... With the long term effects these are more scary even though heoin in its pure form is not of great danger to the body and will cause little damage to the organs and body tissues... there are things like becoming addicted, constipation, irregular periods, loss of sex drive for male users and infertility in female users, Strong feelings of sadness, and your thought abilities being impaired...these are a few long term effects just from the pure form of this...

Unfortunately as with alot of drugs users mix heroin and other substances which makes herion highly poisonous...these additives such as caffeine and sugar can cause collapsed veins, damage to the heart, lungs, liver and brain...Most users are so addicted to this drug that they stop taking care of themselves and also their health they are also at risk of blood borne diseases...

There  is so much more I could write on Heroin but this will give you the basic run down of this drug... Heroin is a dangerous drug not so much for the long term damage it does do to your body but more the need for this drug...The need for just one more hit and most regular users would sell their own mother...The need for one more hit of this drug means that alot of users will get it and can't wait to have it so therefore they will go anywhere to do it...The problem with a herion overdose is that alot of people are alone when it happens and by  the time some one finds them it is just too late...

Do not leave it too late to communicate with your children, Talk to your teens about the dangers and learn as much as you can about these drugs...Once again Knowledge is Power...We, as responsible parents need all the knowledge we can get...

Have a great day
Cheers
Angie