15 SHORT AND LONG TERM EFFECTS OF HEROIN - ARTE - 2025

The effects of heroin have harmful repercussions both on the individual and on society, taking thousands of lives each year or assuming a great economic impact on health coverage.

Heroin is a type of semisynthetic opiate that is derived from morphine. There are two types: white heroin and brown heroin. The first is of higher purity, while the second has more toxic effects because it is of a lower purity.

Some diseases such as hepatitis or AIDS can derive from this addictive opiate, as well as being a source of violence and criminal activities. Although many institutions and governments fight against this tough drug, the demand has increased considerably in this century.

But why is this illegal opiate so deadly? What are the effects on the body to cause an overdose? Who is most at risk of being addicted?

Throughout this article we will develop the main short and long-term effects of heroin. From the first sensation our body experiences to the fatal death or coma that a regular consumer can end up in.

What do the effects of heroin depend on?

Before going on to describe the effects of heroin, it is necessary to point out that they depend on several factors.

For example, the duration in which the effects remain active will be greater or less depending on the dose, its purity and the route of administration (inhaled, smoked or injected).

Since the 1980s, the favorite option has been to take it intravenously, which was more enjoyable for the heroin addict. However, the risk of acquiring viral diseases such as hepatitis or AIDS led to the opting for the nasal or pulmonary route for some time.

The type of consumer is another key factor. The person who consumes regularly and out of physiological necessity (dependence) does not experience the same sensations as the person who tries it for the first time in search of pleasure.

Heroin, like morphine, acts on the central nervous system. Specifically in the opioid receptors located in the areas of perception of pain or gratification, as well as in the central stalk, location of important processes such as arousal, blood pressure or breathing.

Short term effects

1-Unpleasant feeling

Vomiting, nausea, or dizziness are the first sensations that heroin causes when consumed. It is more common for these effects to occur in people who consume it more regularly than those who ingest it the first few times.

2- Honeymoon

Also known as 'flash' or 'rush'. It occurs after the first uncomfortable sensations and causes a state of pleasure dominated by a state of sedation, euphoria and relief.

Warmth, relaxation, tranquility… This is because, once heroin reaches the brain, it is converted into morphine and acts on the aforementioned opioid receptors.

During this phase you also experience dry mouth, constricted pupils and wet eyes, loss of appetite, decreased sensitivity to pain and depression of the respiratory system.

Also, heart rate, body temperature, and tension drop.

3- Stage of "fever"

At a certain peak of pleasure, the sensations acquire characteristics similar to fever. It usually occurs two hours after the heroin dose is ingested and its effect persists for only a few minutes.

The intensity of the fever varies depending on the amount of drug consumed and how quickly it reaches the brain and opioid receptors.

4- Feeling of heaviness in the extremities

It is common for the brain to activate or deactivate part of its functions during heroin intake. For example, the cerebral cortex does not send enough nerve impulses for the extremities to act normally, producing that feeling of heaviness.

5- Drowsiness

Alertness in the brain can disappear and users can enter a drowsy state. This triggers a waking state that can cause hallucinations (visual or auditory, pleasant or horrifying), a certain state of hypnosis, unclear thinking, and the feeling of daze.

During this stage there is a serious deterioration of memory, detailing in several studies how alterations in concentration, attention and information processing occur. The result is poor performance in short-term verbal and visual memory.

6- Slowing of the respiratory rate

Heroin affects respiration by modifying neurochemical activity in the brain stem, an area dedicated to controlling respiratory and cardiac rhythm.

If this decrease in respiratory rate stabilizes it is called bradypnea. Very common problem in obese or smokers. Its consequences in the long run can be fatal.

7- Constipation and intestinal constipation

In addition to the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system is also damaged, causing nausea and vomiting experienced by novice and sporadic users.

The gastrointestinal tract, the function of which is dependent on both nervous systems, is a victim of heroin damage.

The process is a malfunction of the peristalsis of the intestine, inhibition of basal secretions, increased absorption of water in the intestine and the density of the stool and finally development of constipation.

However, the true role of heroin in this fatal intestinal process is still under discussion among the scientific community.

Long-term effects

Every time we administer a dose of an addictive substance, our brain becomes more vulnerable and is forced to consume more and more of that element that causes such pleasant short-term effects.

The reason for this is due to dopamine, the neutrotransmitter that processes positive states of emotion. Dopamine in situations of pleasure or risk is secreted, maintaining control by the brain so as not to cause an emotional imbalance.

However, in the case of drugs it is different, since it breaks that balance of dopamine. This causes a fight between the brain and chemicals for control of sensitive receptors.

At first, the brain compensates for the flow of heroin, so that the initial quantity begins to not suppose pleasure to the consumer who, eager to achieve the desired effect, resorts to higher doses.

This results in the brain beginning to become confused and new neural pathways are formed that directly connect heroin and pleasure. With that begins the first long-term symptom: addiction.

8- Addiction

Addiction is the process by which the brain begins to demand the drug above the rest of its physiological or survival needs, such as eating, drinking or having sex.

For its development it is necessary to maintain a consolidation of consumption, to such an extent that heroin or any other addictive modifies dopamine levels, keeping them low.

This establishes neural connections that are activated after a learning process in which pleasure is associated with the drug, becoming a reward.

9- Infectious and bacterial diseases

In the most serious cases, the normal thing is that the addict ends up resorting to the intravenous route to consume the heroin. This is the most powerful way to feel the desired effects, but at the same time the most dangerous for all the risks it entails, including the different infectious and bacterial diseases.

The use of syringes to administer and the exchange of these injection equipment among consumers, carries the possibility of acquiring diseases as serious as AIDS (HIV) or hepatitis B and C, chronic diseases that can only be overcome with certain treatments.

An example of the seriousness of the matter is that it is estimated that approximately 80% of the 35,000 annual cases that occur of hepatitis C in the United States are due to injection drug exchange.

In Spain, about 59% of those affected by AIDS between 1981 and 1998 were due to parental infection.

10- collapsed veins

Again, the use of syringes seriously affects the physique of the person. The already heroin addict needs to inject the harmful substance intravenously to gain greater pleasure, eventually leading to deterioration in his veins.

The constant need to prick causes the veins to weaken, forming varicose veins. This causes them to collapse and the blood to accumulate, preventing it from flowing. Outcome? Deoxygenated blood accumulates without being able to be oxygenated by the lungs and a blue or purple coloration occurs in the skin that borders the veins.

This coloration will widen along the arm causing serious bruising.

11- Skin abscesses

The action of heroin can infect an area of ​​soft tissue, becoming isolated and causing the accumulation of pus and other bacteria or dead tissues.

These boils can develop anywhere on the body.

12- Damage to the lungs and heart

The lungs and the heart are, after the brain, the organs most affected by this opiate. If these are flooded by the heroin fluid, their function diminishes and can cause diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, infections of the endocardium or in the valves of the heart and abscesses in the lung.

13- Rheumatological problems

Joint problems are quite common in heroin addicts. Swelling, pain or swelling are some of the symptoms of these rheumatological problems, among which arthritis stands out.

14- Overdose

Most critical phase of heroin use. The intoxication by this substance is due, according to the WHO, to the "triad of opioid overdose", made up of pinpoint pupils (miosis), loss of consciousness and respiratory depression.

This combination serves as an impulse to respiratory cardiac arrest that can lead to a coma or, in the worst case, death.

An estimated 69,000 people die from opioid overdoses each year.

15- Withdrawal syndrome

Once the dependence on heroin is created, the organism gets used to its presence, it is tolerated and demands it.

If at any time the drug addict decides to interrupt or reduce the doses to which his body is accustomed, withdrawal syndrome occurs, assuming an abrupt series of physical or mental reactions of great intensity.

The first symptoms are restlessness, sweating, overwhelm, feeling of suffocation, nervousness, agitation, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, or uncontrolled movement of your limbs. They usually start two hours after the last dose taken and last between 24 and 48 hours. From then on, it goes to the most critical phase, which lasts about a week.

Withdrawal can have very serious reactions such as increased heart rate, arrhythmias, heart attacks, seizures, cardiovascular accidents, extreme anxiety, stress and depression, and finally suicidal tendencies.

Some interesting facts

Heroin was marketed in 1898 by the pharmaceutical company Bayer as a cough medicine without addictive consequences. Its sale was legal until 1910.

According to a study carried out by the Institute on Drug Abuse of the United States, heroin is the illegal drug with the greatest addictive capacity. The only compound that surpasses it is nicotine, legal to use and that we can find in tobacco.

According to a study on the effects of heroin abuse (Cicero, 2012), in the United States, the profile of the habitual consumer is a 23-year-old white male who lives in a wealthy rural or suburban area and belongs to a middle-class family.

In 2010, 3,036 people in the United States died from heroin overdoses who had a prescription to treat their chronic pain problems with opioids.

Artists or celebrities such as Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Whitney Houston or Cory Monteith have died of heroin overdose.

Afghanistan is the nerve center of heroin production in the world, occupying 92% of the market. Southeast Asia, Colombia and Mexico follow at a long distance.

References

1. National Institute on Drug Abuse (2014). What is heroin and how is it used?
2. Cicero, TJ; Ellis, MS; and Surratt, HL Effect of abuse-deterrent formulation of OxyContin. N Engl J Med 367 (2): 187-189, 2012.
3. Rodés, JM Piqué, Antoni Trilla (2007). Health book of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and the BBVA Foundation
4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2013.
5. Darke S, Sims J, McDonald S, Wickes W. (2000). Cognitive impairment among methadone maintenance patients. May; 95 (5): 687-95.