The History of Heroin

By definition, heroin is processed from morphine which is derived from the opium poppy. It was first produced in a British morphine lab in 1874. In 1898, a pharmaceutical company named Bayer promoted heroin as a non-addictive painkiller and cough medicine for kids and it was also used for as a treatment for morphine addiction. One may find this ironic considering that heroin is actually processed from morphine, which is a derivative of the opium poppy. While Bayer was making quite the profit off of this new "miracle" drug, they deliberately refused to tell the general public that when heroin is metabolized in the liver it turned into mostly morphine. The use of heroin as a treatment for various ailments was intact until 1914 when the Harrison's Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of heroin. However, this did not stop doctors from prescribing heroin to people. This led to people continually using heroin and creating a network of people who had become dependent and addicted to heroin.

 http://www.novusdetox.com/heroin-effects-history.php

Heroin can be found in many different forms, colors, etc. based on what it is cut or laced with. Pure heroin is rarely sold on the streets, mostly due to the fact the drug dealers would not make as much money by dealing pure heroin. By lacing heroin with powder (either white or brown) it can distort the pure color of heroin (http://www.novusdetox.com/heroin-effects-history.php).

On the street, heroin goes by many names: smack, h, skag, and junk. Heroin is usually injected, by can also be snorted and smoked. Heroin users tend to shoot up nearly four times a day. By injecting heroin, it provides the quickest and biggest high (effects felt in 7-8 seconds). While the other two methods are not as strong, it seems that all three ways of using heroin are highly addictive.

As you can see in major cities, injecting seems to be by far the most used method, with sniffing/snorting coming second, and very few people smoking heroin.

http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/heroin-information.html

So, why do people become addicted to heroin? Heroin acts in a way in which it is carried to the brain and crosses the blood-brain barrier. Once there, it activates the endorphin receptors to release more endorphins. This in turn creates an overwhelming state of euphoria. Below, you can see how opiates can affect our brains.

Heroin has numerous short-term and long-term effects. Short term effects include: a "rush," nausea and vomiting, suppression of pain, and decreased breathing. Long-term effects include: addiction, infectious diseases like HIV/Hepatitis B/C (because of the sharing of needles), infection of the heart lining, and collapsed veins (http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/heroin-information.html). While I have discussed the history, logistics, biological, and side-effects of heroin I have to this point failed to mention its prevalence in the United States. 

According to the CIA's website, there are approximately 2 million heroin users in the United States, of which they estimate 600-800 thousand of them being hardcore users. They do go on to suggest that most of these are older individuals but the use among younger populations has begun to rise exponentially in the past few years ( https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/heroin-movement-worldwide/consumption.html). Approximately 30-40% of the United States' heroin comes from Mexican growers and refiners. The remaining percentage seems to be mostly coming from Colombia, who is also a main supplier of cocaine in the United States (http://www.novusdetox.com/heroin-effects-history.php). 

Heroin happens to be one of the most penalized drugs out there today. On a Federal level, a first time offense using heroin can land you a year in prison and a $5,000 fine. However, a first time offense selling or distributing heroin can land you a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. On a State level, a first time offense using heroin is a felony and will get you up to 7 years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine. Selling or distributing heroin usually results in 10-15 years in prison with a $100,000 fine (www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/heroin-state-and-federal-penalties.html). Most all heroin convicts are encouraged to go to NA meetings and complete the program. While there is no Heroin Anonymous, NA has been shown to have great results over the time of its existence. 

Personally, all of this information is mind-boggling. I didn't realize the prevalence of heroin in our society and how it has crept into younger populations. In fact, it is very disturbing knowing that heroin usage has increased in the United States. Although the penalties for heroin are among the strictest, there still is not enough being done to keep it out of our country. Overall, it seems to be a big detriment to our society and better policing needs to be done before it is ingrained into our society's fabric just like marijuana and cocaine seem to be. Until this happens, there will become more addicts and more lives ruined due to a substance. On a smaller scale, the effects this has on families is probably far worse. When you become reliant on a substance, it takes priority and distorts reality as to what is more important. Broken homes and broken hearts seem to be the only thing that comes out of severe drug addiction. Although progress is being made in NA meetings and there are success stories, there seems to be far more stories of failure and relapse.  

References:

http://www.novusdetox.com/heroin-effects-history.php

http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/heroin-information.html

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/heroin-state-and-federal-penalties.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/heroin-movement-worldwide/consumption.html