Heroin
Created | Updated Feb 1, 2002
Heroin - an illegal narcotic (aka: smack, skag, H)
"Its so good, don't try it, not even once"
Intraveneous heroin user
What is Heroin?
Heroin (Diacetylmorphine) is an opiate, a drug synthesised from the sap of the <opium poppy> http://opioids.com/red.html . Its a white, bitter tasting odourless powder. Its an illegal narcotic, and has an effect described as 'like kissing god' (footnote - Lenny Bruce)
A brief history of poppy eating.
Opiates have been used for thousands of years for pain relief and the calming euphoria they can induce. Inhabitants of the earliest civilisations seem to have been using opiates, the Sumerians over 5000 years ago refer to opium poppies as Hul Gil, the 'joy plant.'
By the seventeenth century trade in opium was widespread throughout the east and west. Apothecarys valued it as a medicine for many ailments, a divine gift from God to ease mans woes. Laudanum, a concoction of opium and wine was recommended for those who were restless insomniacs "...by reason of their continual cares, fears, sorrows, dry brains... a symptom that much crucifies melancholy men..."
Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1577-1640)
By 1680 cure-all opiate based remedies like Sydenham's Laudanum, a compound of opium, sherry wine and herbs became popular for numerous ailments. As trade and inter-cultural communications increased more people used opium for both recreation and pain relief.
In 1729 the Chinese emperor, Yung Cheng, prohibited the smoking of opium and its domestic sale, except under license for use as medicine. The British Empire sought a monopoly of the opium trade from India to China, flouting this prohibition, and in the 1860s exporting 2000 chests of opium each year. The opium wars of Britain and China is beyond the scope of this entry, more can be found here http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm
By the nineteenth century opium was widely used in many parts of the world, and usage was increasing. British opium imports rose from 91,000lb in 1830 to 280,000lb in 1860. In 1842, William Blair described his experiences with opium in a New York magazine... "I felt a strange sensation, totally unlike any thing I had ever felt before; a gradual creeping thrill, which in a few minutes occupied every part of my body, lulling to sleep the before-mentioned racking pain, producing a pleasing glow from head to foot, and inducing a sensation of dreamy exhilaration"
By the mid to late nineteenth century the addictive and 'negative' affect of morphine were becoming evident to the powers that be in the western world. William Randolph Hearst's media empire contained horror stories of white women seduced by the 'yellow peril' of the opium den. http://www.drugwar.com/propaganda.htm
Opium was banned in the UK in 1878. Physicians were noting addiction as a real problem and devloping withdrawal programs. And chemists and pharmacologists were working to produce a drug with the benefits of morphine and no addictive side affects.
The synthesis of heroin
Heroin (diacetylmorphine) was first synthesized from morphine in 1874 when english researcher C.R. simply boiled morphine over a stove. He found this new opiate to be three times stonger than morphine. The hypodermic needle had been developed in Edinburgh in the the 1840s, and it was found that injecting drugs also significantly amplified their potency.
In 1895 Heinrich Dreser working for The Bayer Company of Germany pharmacologist Bayer diluted morphine with acetyls. This producing a diacetylmorphine he named 'heroin' (meaning 'hero') was developed just 11 days after the same lab made asprin.
Heroin's increased lipid solubility allows it to cross the blood-brain barrier quickly. The drug in the body is reconverted back to morphine then binds to brain-tissue receptors. The protiens of the drug affect the brain's perception of pain and pleasure.
So by 1897 the ancient's 'plant of joy' had been developed into injectable heroin - a potent drug that gives almost instant pain relief, and a intense brief euphoria followed by a few hours of dreamy blissful relaxation.
"Heroin mimics the action of natural chemicals, endorphins, produced by the body in response to pain. Endorphins are small-chain peptides that activate our endogenous opioid receptors. Their activation produces feelings of happiness, relaxation, fearlessness and tolerance to pain. Many users self-medicate: opioids are powerful antidepressants and antianxiety agents. Response and remission rates are high; but so are tolerance, dependence and addiction."
20th Century - Heroin addiction and prohibition
By 1900 Heroin is recognized as being addictive. The US estimates 250,000 to 1 million users. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotics Act in the US taxes manufacture, importation, and distribution of heroin, and by
1924 manufacture of heroin is completely prohibited in the US.
As with prohibition of alchol, simply banning a substance did not make it cease to exist. The demand for heroin remained. Opiate use had been a part of bohemian culture and heroin use was a part of the jazz scene. Heroin addicts turned to the black market in areas like New Yorks Chinatown. Since there is money to be made from an illegal trade enterprising criminals took over where pharmacies left off.
Usage of heroin seems to have steadilly risen over the 20th century, though given the unregulated nature of the black market figures are unreliable. In the 1980s the US Government estimates there 400-750,000 American heroin users, in the 1990s 1.5 million
The problems of Heroin Addiction
Prolonged usage causes physical damage to the body, although not necessarily from the drug itself. Many heroin eventually lack personal hygeine, fail to eat properly and lose the will to do anything other than take more heroin. A user once said to me "Everything else is out of the window, its the number one priority." Some heroin users tell grim tales of deals in grim areas of town with violent threats from more desperate users not uncommon.
"due to the current illegality of this drug, you often have to have serious problems before you find people who can get you any. on top of this, when you become addicted, it often costs more than you can afford to maintain the habit, and so your lifestyle goes downhill drastically. Having said that, if you are a serious drunk, similar things happen, due to that fact that in both cases, ensuring a continuing supply of the drug becomes the main goal in life. After this point, anyone's lifestyle rapidly goes down the tubes."
xyroth, U149792
Dirty needles can result in diseases, - such as Aids and septecimia. Pure heroin is rarely available on the black market, so there is also the risk of impurities. Street heroin is cut with cheaper substances, some benign, many harmful. "Needle tracks" - ugly marks of bruising where the person has injected may form and can become infected.
If you are suspicious that someone may be using H, you might wonder why they wear long sleeves thrughout the summer. But users can inject in many places on the body, and are often very good at covering thier tracks. The stereotype 'junkie,' huddled in a street corner, shoplifting, theiving or prostituting themselves to feed the habit is just that - a sterotype.
Heroin is, "a very dangerous, very addictive drug and a pretty desperate and miserable lifestyle choice." http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugsmak.html
Dealing with it
The debate around the drugs war, prohibition and the politics of crime and corruption in enforcing the ban on heroin remains contentious. Heroin use is connected with crime and unhappiness, and a social problem for those who know addicts and thier single minded compulsion for its euphoric amnesia.
For more info try
http://www.narcoticsanonymous.org/
http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugsmak.html
http://www.heroin.org/
http://opioids.com/heroin.html
But don't try heroin.
"Its so good, don't try it, not even once"
Intraveneous heroin user
What is Heroin?
Heroin (Diacetylmorphine) is an opiate, a drug synthesised from the sap of the <opium poppy> http://opioids.com/red.html . Its a white, bitter tasting odourless powder. Its an illegal narcotic, and has an effect described as 'like kissing god' (footnote - Lenny Bruce)
A brief history of poppy eating.
Opiates have been used for thousands of years for pain relief and the calming euphoria they can induce. Inhabitants of the earliest civilisations seem to have been using opiates, the Sumerians over 5000 years ago refer to opium poppies as Hul Gil, the 'joy plant.'
By the seventeenth century trade in opium was widespread throughout the east and west. Apothecarys valued it as a medicine for many ailments, a divine gift from God to ease mans woes. Laudanum, a concoction of opium and wine was recommended for those who were restless insomniacs "...by reason of their continual cares, fears, sorrows, dry brains... a symptom that much crucifies melancholy men..."
Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1577-1640)
By 1680 cure-all opiate based remedies like Sydenham's Laudanum, a compound of opium, sherry wine and herbs became popular for numerous ailments. As trade and inter-cultural communications increased more people used opium for both recreation and pain relief.
In 1729 the Chinese emperor, Yung Cheng, prohibited the smoking of opium and its domestic sale, except under license for use as medicine. The British Empire sought a monopoly of the opium trade from India to China, flouting this prohibition, and in the 1860s exporting 2000 chests of opium each year. The opium wars of Britain and China is beyond the scope of this entry, more can be found here http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm
By the nineteenth century opium was widely used in many parts of the world, and usage was increasing. British opium imports rose from 91,000lb in 1830 to 280,000lb in 1860. In 1842, William Blair described his experiences with opium in a New York magazine... "I felt a strange sensation, totally unlike any thing I had ever felt before; a gradual creeping thrill, which in a few minutes occupied every part of my body, lulling to sleep the before-mentioned racking pain, producing a pleasing glow from head to foot, and inducing a sensation of dreamy exhilaration"
By the mid to late nineteenth century the addictive and 'negative' affect of morphine were becoming evident to the powers that be in the western world. William Randolph Hearst's media empire contained horror stories of white women seduced by the 'yellow peril' of the opium den. http://www.drugwar.com/propaganda.htm
Opium was banned in the UK in 1878. Physicians were noting addiction as a real problem and devloping withdrawal programs. And chemists and pharmacologists were working to produce a drug with the benefits of morphine and no addictive side affects.
The synthesis of heroin
Heroin (diacetylmorphine) was first synthesized from morphine in 1874 when english researcher C.R. simply boiled morphine over a stove. He found this new opiate to be three times stonger than morphine. The hypodermic needle had been developed in Edinburgh in the the 1840s, and it was found that injecting drugs also significantly amplified their potency.
In 1895 Heinrich Dreser working for The Bayer Company of Germany pharmacologist Bayer diluted morphine with acetyls. This producing a diacetylmorphine he named 'heroin' (meaning 'hero') was developed just 11 days after the same lab made asprin.
Heroin's increased lipid solubility allows it to cross the blood-brain barrier quickly. The drug in the body is reconverted back to morphine then binds to brain-tissue receptors. The protiens of the drug affect the brain's perception of pain and pleasure.
So by 1897 the ancient's 'plant of joy' had been developed into injectable heroin - a potent drug that gives almost instant pain relief, and a intense brief euphoria followed by a few hours of dreamy blissful relaxation.
"Heroin mimics the action of natural chemicals, endorphins, produced by the body in response to pain. Endorphins are small-chain peptides that activate our endogenous opioid receptors. Their activation produces feelings of happiness, relaxation, fearlessness and tolerance to pain. Many users self-medicate: opioids are powerful antidepressants and antianxiety agents. Response and remission rates are high; but so are tolerance, dependence and addiction."
20th Century - Heroin addiction and prohibition
By 1900 Heroin is recognized as being addictive. The US estimates 250,000 to 1 million users. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotics Act in the US taxes manufacture, importation, and distribution of heroin, and by
1924 manufacture of heroin is completely prohibited in the US.
As with prohibition of alchol, simply banning a substance did not make it cease to exist. The demand for heroin remained. Opiate use had been a part of bohemian culture and heroin use was a part of the jazz scene. Heroin addicts turned to the black market in areas like New Yorks Chinatown. Since there is money to be made from an illegal trade enterprising criminals took over where pharmacies left off.
Usage of heroin seems to have steadilly risen over the 20th century, though given the unregulated nature of the black market figures are unreliable. In the 1980s the US Government estimates there 400-750,000 American heroin users, in the 1990s 1.5 million
The problems of Heroin Addiction
Prolonged usage causes physical damage to the body, although not necessarily from the drug itself. Many heroin eventually lack personal hygeine, fail to eat properly and lose the will to do anything other than take more heroin. A user once said to me "Everything else is out of the window, its the number one priority." Some heroin users tell grim tales of deals in grim areas of town with violent threats from more desperate users not uncommon.
"due to the current illegality of this drug, you often have to have serious problems before you find people who can get you any. on top of this, when you become addicted, it often costs more than you can afford to maintain the habit, and so your lifestyle goes downhill drastically. Having said that, if you are a serious drunk, similar things happen, due to that fact that in both cases, ensuring a continuing supply of the drug becomes the main goal in life. After this point, anyone's lifestyle rapidly goes down the tubes."
xyroth, U149792
Dirty needles can result in diseases, - such as Aids and septecimia. Pure heroin is rarely available on the black market, so there is also the risk of impurities. Street heroin is cut with cheaper substances, some benign, many harmful. "Needle tracks" - ugly marks of bruising where the person has injected may form and can become infected.
If you are suspicious that someone may be using H, you might wonder why they wear long sleeves thrughout the summer. But users can inject in many places on the body, and are often very good at covering thier tracks. The stereotype 'junkie,' huddled in a street corner, shoplifting, theiving or prostituting themselves to feed the habit is just that - a sterotype.
Heroin is, "a very dangerous, very addictive drug and a pretty desperate and miserable lifestyle choice." http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugsmak.html
Dealing with it
The debate around the drugs war, prohibition and the politics of crime and corruption in enforcing the ban on heroin remains contentious. Heroin use is connected with crime and unhappiness, and a social problem for those who know addicts and thier single minded compulsion for its euphoric amnesia.
For more info try
http://www.narcoticsanonymous.org/
http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugsmak.html
http://www.heroin.org/
http://opioids.com/heroin.html
But don't try heroin.
