Heroin

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• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

Heroin is a white or brown powder or a black, sticky goo. It's an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance in the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. It can be mixed with water and injected with a needle. Heroin can also be smoked or snorted up the nose. All of these ways of taking heroin send it to the brain very quickly. This makes it very addictive.

Major health problems from heroin include miscarriages, heart infections, and death from overdose. People who inject the drug also risk getting infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Regular use of heroin can lead to tolerance. This means users need more and more drug to have the same effect. At higher doses over time, the body becomes dependent on heroin. If dependent users stop heroin, they have withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea and vomiting, and cold flashes with goose bumps.

NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Start Here

• Heroin (Drug Enforcement Administration)
• Heroin DrugFacts (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Drug Testing (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Drug Use Screening Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• What Can Be Done for a Heroin Overdose? (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish
• What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - PDF

Images

• Heroin Photos (Drug Enforcement Administration)

Statistics and Research

• Abuse of Prescription Pain Medications Risks Heroin Use (National Institute on Drug Abuse) - PDF
• Heroin (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Heroin Dependence (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Methadone (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: 'This is hardcore': a qualitative study exploring service users' experiences of...
• Article: Heroin assisted treatment for key health outcomes in people with chronic...
• Article: Heroin and its metabolites: relevance to heroin use disorder.
• Heroin -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Drug Enforcement Administration
• FindTreatment.gov (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
• National Institute on Drug Abuse Also in Spanish
• Opioid Treatment Program Directory (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
• Partnership to End Addiction

Teenagers

• Tips for Teens: The Truth about Heroin (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - PDF
• What Is Heroin? (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• How Does Heroin Use Affect Pregnant Women (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Heroin overdose (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Opiate and opioid withdrawal (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tips for Teens: The Truth about Heroin (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - PDF