Exposing heroin and opium effects: What is Heroin and Opium?
Before we can settle into the discussion of exposing heroine and opium effects, we want to first understand the definitions of the two substances. A lot has been said about heroin across the globe and one very important point is that heroin like all other substances of abuse has got nothing beneficial to human health. They can only be associated with disasters like poor health, suffering and death to the extreme further begging the question “what really are these dangerous and devastating substances?”
Heroin is derived from the morphine alkaloid found in opium and is roughly 2-3 times more potent. A highly addictive drug, heroin exhibits euphoric (“rush”), anxiolytic and analgesic central nervous system properties. Heroin is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and as such has no acceptable medical use in the United States. Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste. Most illicit heroin is sold as a white or brownish powder and is usually “cut” with other drugs or with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. It can also be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death and that is why exposing heroin effects is very necessary. Another form of heroin known as “black tar” may be sticky, like roofing tar, or hard, like coal. Its color may vary from dark brown to black. Heroin has some funny street names include smack, H, skag, junk, brown sugar, horse, and black tar.
Opium is also a highly addictive narcotic drug which comes in dried latex form from the opium poppy seed pod. Customarily the pods which have not ripened are slit open and their sap seeds out and dries on the outer surface of the pod. The product realized will be yellow-brown latex, which is then scraped off of the pod; it is bitter in taste and contains varying amounts of alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, thebaine and papaverine.
And now back to exposing the effects of opium and heroin in both the short-term and the long-term, can be overwhelming in a number of different ways. The euphoria experienced in the short-term can overtake the senses, making the patient incoherent, unresponsive and unable to focus. In the long-term, the health effects can erode major organ systems and cause infections that can be life threatening. The good news is that when you schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, you will be attended to professionally in all your addiction related concerns.
Exposing heroin and opium effects: Short term effects
The short-term effects of opium and heroin are generally the reason why people use opiates in the first place. This is when you experience the high or euphoric rush associated with the drug.
- Less than 10 seconds after intravenous injection, opiate users will feel a rush while an intramuscular injection provides a high in less than 10 minutes.
- For those who snort or smoke the drug, the euphoria takes up to 15 minutes.
- Other short-term effects of heroin and opium include dry mouth, a warm feeling, and heavy arms and legs.
- When heroin is cut with poisons or dangerous drugs like Fentanyl or when too much heroin is taken, a short-term effect of the drug can be overdose or death.
Exposing heroin and opium effects: What is Heroin and Opium?
