Effects of heroin

A detailed Summary of Effects of heroin

In James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues", Sonny was addicted to heroin. He states: "I can't get anything straight in my head down here and I try not to think what's going to happen to me when I get outside again. Sometimes I think I'm going to flip and never get outside and sometimes I think I'll come straight back. I'll tell you one think though I'd rather blow my brains out then go through this again"(84). Here Sonny is going through one of the stages of heroin. He is going through the withdrawal stage and he is hurting at this point. Sonny knows he has to get over it he also knows he can. Heroin is a very addictive drug and has many short and long term effects.

The definition of heroin described by Kuhn is, "Heroin or any drug natural or synthetic that provides the characteristics of opiate actions: thee combination of a dreamy, euphoric state, lessened sensation of pain, slowed breathing, constipation, and pinpoint pupils"(164). Heroin makes about 90% of the opiates used illegally in the United States. Heroin is extremely addictive. Users can be addictive in a matter of days in which they started (165).

There are many short-term effects of heroin. As soon as heroin enters the blood stream it is converted into mo

Treating a heroin addiction is no easy solution. There are many strategies like cold turkey or methadone clinics, but none is easy. In cold turkey the user just stops. He will get very harsh withdrawal symptoms, but after months without the drug he could eventually be cured. The methadone clinics work as an outpatient treatment program. The idea of this treatment is that the user can gradually work his way down to a lifestyle free of heroin. This drug is also taken orally so there are no risks of IV administration.

It is known that different drugs produce different effects on the bodies system. But all drugs share in the common ability to influence brain chemistry. The easiest way to explain how drugs work in the brain would be a "lock and key" method. For example, the lock would be the effect on the body (what the brain tells the body to do) and the key would be the drug. Only the right key can open the lock. Neurotransmitters are the communication with the rest of the body. The actual drug wither mimics or blocks the neurotransmitters. Heroin therefore attaches to the opiod transmitters in the brain, which release endomorphins and dynomorphins. Avram Goldstein, who discovered dynomorphins states that " If not for the brain receptors, with their amazing specificity, all the addictive drugs would have the same biological actions (or no actions at all)"(31). This is an important point because it shows how the drug is able to act with normal brain receptors making the chemicals "drugs" rather then poisons in the body.

There are many physical side effects of stimulating all opiate receptors in the body simultaneously. The major effect is death by overdose. As Kuhn states " The most common reason for overdose is that the user has received a dose much higher then expected"(175). Since street heroin varies widely, it could be as high as 60% pure and as low as 10% pure (175). Seizures can develop with high doses. Another short-term effect of overdosing on heroin is flushing of the skin and tremendous itching. This is because morphine releases histamine in the skin.

Between the books I read and the people I interviewed, I think that heroin is not a way to lead a life. It will just take you, and make you think that the real world doesn't exist. It will put you in the illusion that ev

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Approximate Word count = 1562
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science