
Maricopa County, AZ, one of the worst affected counties in the state, reports that:

Sadly, the misuse and abuse of prescription opioid painkillers like Ox圜ontin and heroin result in overdoses and deaths.ĭata from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) found that the misuse of prescription opioids totals around $78.5 billion dollars a year. Still, the illegal making and importing of opioids worsen the problem. The True Extent of the Current Opioid CrisisĪround 130 people still die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S., according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA). Middle to upper-class white women purchased the drug legally and became addicted at a rate nearly three times that of opiate addiction in the U.S. However, in 1853, the making of the hypodermic syringe increased heroin addiction. In later years, opium was used around the world. Prescribing heroin for medical purposes as an opioid painkiller has created an opioid crisis in the United States. Realizing the poppy plant’s strong “recreational” effects, they called it the “plant of joy,” and used it for both medicine and recreation. The Sumerians, known for inventing writing, were also the first to use opium around 3,300 B.C. This article goes over the damaging changes that heroin use can cause to the body, face, and brain of a user. In this article, we’ll explore the destructive physical changes that affect heroin users over time. Heroin is so addictive that drug users often ignore the damage being done to their bodies, faces, and even brains while chasing the next high. Heroin’s affects on the heart rate, sleep, and breathing contribute to most opioid overdoses and deaths.Īs a white or brown powder, or a sticky black substance, heroin is also known by the following common street names: Big H, Brown Sugar, Horse, Hell dust, Junk, Smack. Mixing, called “ speedballing” or “ fastball,” increases the high, addiction rate and withdrawal. Some users mix heroin with other substances, like crack cocaine, to get an increased effect.

Heroin users inject, inhale, draw out or smoke the drug. * Before/After Image Source: Used with the kind permission of Jennifer Salfen-Tracy Like most opiates, heroin is highly addictive and can quickly become extremely destructive to both the bodies and lives of its users. Morphine is then further refined to make heroin and other opiate-based drugs. The process of creating heroin involves opium being removed from the poppy flower’s pod and then refined into morphine. Poppies are farmed to produced legal opioids for medical use, such as morphine, as well as illegal drugs like heroin. Heroin is an opiate drug made from the sap-like resin of the opium poppy plant, grown mainly in southern Asia and South America.
