What Is Heroin?

What Does Heroin Look & Smell Like?

Many drugs have a distinct smell and appearance. Heroin comes in many different forms. It can be in powder form, with various colors such as white, brown, and grey. Heroin can also come in black tar, which is black, sticky, and can be melted into a liquid.

The distinct smell that heroin has is vinegar. The reason heroin sometimes smells like vinegar is because of the chemical process used to make the drug. The odor occurs after the final steps of processing heroin. Although heroin is associated with a vinegar smell, it doesn’t always have it. The better heroin is washed at the end, or the purer it is, the less likely it is to have a strong vinegar odor.

How Is Heroin Used & Taken?

One of the most common ways a person uses heroin is by injecting heroin with a needle. There are various ways a person may use heroin, such as by injecting, smoking, or snorting. Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and there are many dangers associated with using heroin alone; there are additional risks for using needles to inject heroin.

Is Heroin Used Medically?

Heroin is identified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act meaning that it has a high potential for abuse and is not currently accepted for medical use in the United States.

Recreational Uses

The main uses of heroin include injection, inhalation, and sniffing/snorting. Although smoking, injecting, and snorting heroin result in the same goal of getting high from heroin, there are differences in all three modalities with various risks associated, types of materials used, and levels of dependency. 

Injection

Needles are used with heroin by injecting the drug directly into a user’s vein. Users often use discreet injection sites. Most users start by injecting in their forearms but may move to other areas such as the neck, groin, hands, feet, or face when scarring or inflammation occurs. 

Inhalation

One way a person may smoke heroin is through something called foil smoking. Foil smoking is generally heroin consumption by inhalation. By heating an aluminum foil with a lighter, the heroin on top of the foil starts melting, and the smoke is then inhaled using a straw. Foil smoking is the second most common form of heroin consumption after intravenous use.

Sniffing/Snorting

People may have the misconception that snorting heroin is safer than injecting heroin. However, it has been reported that heroin users who begin heroin use by snorting or smoking heroin first eased their transition to needle drug use. It is also increasingly common for heroin to be cut with other dangerous, potent opioids like illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a significant risk factor for overdose no matter how heroin is taken.

Common Symptoms & Side Effects Experienced by Users

Heroin use has significant short and long-term effects. Once heroin enters the brain, it is converted to morphine. People who use heroin typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensations. With heroin, the rush is accompanied by warm skin flushing, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the arms and legs. Nausea, vomiting, and severe itching may also occur. After the initial effects, users will usually be drowsy for several hours; mental function is clouded; heart function slows; and breathing is slowed, sometimes enough to be life-threatening. Slowed breathing can also lead to coma and permanent brain damage.

How Addictive Is Heroin?

Heroin is a powerful opioid drug made from the opium poppy plant. No matter how it is taken, when heroin enters the body, it moves to the brain quickly and changes how the central nervous system functions. In the brain, heroin binds to specific receptors responsible for sensations of pain and pleasure.

While heroin dulls pain and delivers a euphoric rush of pleasure, it also sends signals to parts of the brain responsible for regulating heart and breathing rates, memory, motor control, alertness, and emotional control. The limbic system, in particular, and the reward-response reactions that occur there play a significant role in the development of addiction. Heroin causes this system to release dopamine, leaving the individual with feelings of satisfaction and well-being for a short time. However, drowsiness and mental impairment follow for hours afterward. 

Another indicator contributing to addiction is how quickly a person may feel euphoric. For snorting heroin, it takes about 5 minutes to feel the effects of the high of heroin. For smoking and injecting heroin, a person will experience the high immediately. This is why all forms of heroin use are highly addictive and dangerous.

Can Someone Become Addicted From First Time Use?

While it is unlikely a person will become addicted to heroin at first use, heroin is a highly addictive drug that impacts people very soon after use. In addition to the euphoria a person experiences when using heroin that leads to addiction, a person will quickly begin feeling withdrawal symptoms after they come down from the high, which also can lead to addictive tendencies. 

Heroin use disorder is a medical condition characterized by an addiction to heroin. 

Common Symptoms of Heroin Use Disorder:

• Cravings for the drug.
• Decreased mental clarity or focus.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Withdrawal symptoms such as nausea and irritability when unable to access the drug.
• Other physical symptoms may include sweating and shaking or muscle tension.

Breaking free from heroin can be challenging because of its highly addictive nature. Successful addiction treatment is best found through a comprehensive recovery program like the one offered at Guardian Recovery, which provides the support you need to detox in a safe and comfortable environment.

Heroin Addiction & Overdose Statistics

Heroin is a powerful drug that can lead to dependency, overdose, and death. Because people feel an intense high immediately, it creates a desire to have more. In 2020, more than 13,000 people died from an overdose involving heroin in the United States. This equals more than four deaths for every 100,000 Americans. The number of heroin overdose deaths was seven times higher in 2020 than in 1999.