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Heroin
By Sam Robinson, Rico Baltazar, and Abhay Srinivas
What is heroin?
Heroin is a powder that can be multi-colored due to additives put
into it.
The drug is highly addictive and illegal; people continuously use it
because they don’t want to experience withdrawal.
Comes from poppy plants
Usually injected into body, but can be smoked
or snorted as well
Origins
Heroin was first manufactured in 1898 by the German company
Bayer Pharmaceutical, for use in the treatment of tuberculosis.
Surprisingly, heroin was also used as a remedy for morphine addiction.
Heroin became a major problem after it became a substitute for the
morphine dilemma in the U.S.
Origins (continued)
Heroin was first synthesized by C.R. Alder Wright in 1874, and made
by adding two acetyl groups to the morphine molecule.
Soon after the heroin “craze”, methadone, a drug first manufactured
in 1937 by German scientists in their search for a surgical painkiller, was
shipped to the U.S., becoming even more addictive than heroin.
Stats
9.2 million people use heroin in the world
In the U.S., 153,000 people use heroin
 4 out of every 5 drug related deaths were caused by opiates, mainly heroin.
16 million people worldwide use opiates
Opiates, mainly heroin, are responsible for 18% of submissions into drug and
alcohol treatment in the U.S.
Between 1995 and 2002, the number of teens who use heroin has increased by
300%.
Effects: Short term
Initial feeling of heightened
senses – people feel a “rush”
Extroverted Feeling
Temporary sense of
Warmer skin
heightened sexual performance
Dry mouth
 Aches and pains (in bones)
Clouded mental functioning
 Hypothermia
 Drowsiness
Effects: Long term
Bad teeth
Hepatitis C2
Collapsed veins
Inflamed gums
Infections of the blood vessels
Constipation
and heart valves
Cold Sweats
Arthritis
Thin, bony, sick feeling
AIDS
Itchiness
Effects (continued): Long term
Immune system weakens and
 Reduced sexual capacity
deteriorates/breaks down, leading to severe
impacts on the body (more disease prone)
and ultimately death
Menstrual disturbance in women
Inability to achieve orgasm
Warmer skin
(men and women)
Dry mouth
Insomnia
 Clouded mental functioning
Loss of memory and appetite
 Increased tolerance after every dose
Depression
The Heroin “Look”
Fashion designers, photographers, and advertising
people/companies like Calvin Klein have encouraged heroin use in
youths because the drug is portrayed as fashionable and desirable.
One of the most famous/popular heroin portrayals was the “heroin
chic”.
This has increased the overall usage of heroin in people.
Types of Heroin
Cheese heroin – a mix of black tar, Mexican heroin, and over the
counter cold medication
• Relatively cheap
• Effects include – Slow breathing and heartbeat, death
• Children as young as 9 have become hooked on/addicted to cheese
heroin
Street Names for Heroin
 Big H
 H
 Hell Dust
 Nose Drops
 Horse
 Smash
 Thunder
 Brown
 Gear
 Smack
 Skag
Why do people take heroin?
Peer pressure
Want to be “cool”/fit in
Persuasion from dealers
Want to feel heightened and experience a “rush”.
Increased sexual performance (only temporary)
Even a single dose of heroin can make people addicts and put them on
the “road to addiction”.
Interesting Facts
By the 1990s, the mortality rate of heroin addicts was 20 times
higher than the rest of the population of drug users/addicts.
Heroin once frightened people – then, as heroin became portrayed
as fashionable and “cool”, the massive addiction to the drug started.
Davide Sorrenti, a famous photographer whose works often
included and were associated with the “heroin chic”, died due
to a heroin overdose. He was only 20 years old.
Interesting Facts(continued)
Heroin's various forms have increased in number in recent years,
making more tempting for people to take and get hooked on than ever.
Many teenagers think that smoking heroin is less risky (poses less
dangers) than injecting it. This is a myth, and it is completely false.
Dealers of heroin are extremely persuasive, and admit using
buyers/consumers of the drug as “pawns in a chess game” - their only
goal is to get the cash from users and addicts.
Reasons People Take Drugs
 To solve their problems
To fit in
To escape from life or relax
To relieve boredom
To appear grown up and adult - like
 To rebel
 To test the drug out and experiment (with it)
Don’t
Do
Heroin,
Kids.