Posts Tagged ‘AIDS’
LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF HEROIN
Posted on: August 7, 2012
- In: Blogroll
- 5 Comments
The effects on the body from continued use of this drug are very destructive. Frequent injections can cause collapsed veins and can lead to infections of the blood vessels and heart valves. Tuberculosis1 can result from the general poor condition of the body. Arthritis is another long-term result of heroin addiction.
The addict lifestyle—where heroin users often share their needles—leads to AIDS and other contagious infections. It is estimated that of the 35,000 new hepatitis C2 (liver disease) infections each year in the United States, over 70% are from drug users who use needles.
Long-term effects include
- Bad teeth
- Inflammation of the gums
- Constipation
- Cold sweats
- Itching
- Weakening of the immune system
- Coma
- Respiratory (breathing) illnesses
- Muscular weakness, partial paralysis
- Reduced sexual capacity and long-term impotence in men
- Menstrual disturbance in women
- Inability to achieve orgasm (women and men)
- Loss of memory and intellectual performance
- Introversion
- Depression
- Pustules on the face
- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia
- 1. tuberculosis: an infectious disease affecting the lungs and other organs
Related articles
- CLAIM: Macaulay Culkin Addicted to Heroin, Might Die Within 6 Months (gossipcop.com)
- Crackdown on painkiller abuse fuels new wave of heroin addiction (openchannel.msnbc.msn.com)
- Russell Brand smoking heroin (thesun.co.uk)
- Drugs An Instrument of Global Policy (therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com)
- Mexican heroin seized in west Mobile drug bust (al.com)
- Heroin (iamaddicted2.wordpress.com)
HEROIN: WHAT IS IT?
Posted on: August 7, 2012
- In: Blogroll
- 4 Comments
Heroin is a highly addictive, illegal drug. It is used by millions of addicts around the world who are unable to overcome the urge to continue taking this drug every day of their lives—knowing that if they stop, they will face the horror of withdrawal.
Heroin (like opium and morphine) is made from the resin of poppy plants. Milky, sap-like opium is first removed from the pod of the poppy flower. This opium is refined to make morphine, then further refined into different forms of heroin.
Most heroin is injected, creating additional risks for the user, who faces the danger of AIDS or other infection on top of the pain of addiction.
“Heroin cut me off from the rest of the world. My parents kicked me out. My friends and my brothers didn’t want to see me anymore. I was all alone.” —Suzanne
The origins of heroin
Heroin was first manufactured in 1898 by the Bayer pharmaceutical company of Germany and marketed as a treatment for tuberculosis as well as a remedy for morphine addiction.
A vicious circle
During the 1850s, opium addiction was a major problem in the United States. The “solution” was to provide opium addicts with a less potent and supposedly “non-addictive” substitute—morphine. Morphine addiction soon became a bigger problem than opium addiction.
As with opium, the morphine problem was solved by another “non-addictive” substitute—heroin, which proved to be even more addictive than morphine. With the heroin problem came yet another “non-addictive” substitute—the drug now known as methadone. First developed in 1937 by German scientists searching for a surgical painkiller, it was exported to the US and given the trade name “Dolophine” in 1947. Renamed methadone, the drug was soon being widely used as a treatment for heroin addiction. Unfortunately, it proved to be even more addictive than heroin.
By the late 1990s, the mortality rate of heroin addicts was estimated to be as high as twenty times greater than the rest of the population.
Related articles
- On Drugs and Democracy (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
- Fears of opium poppy farming in Kerala (thehindu.com)
- Mexican heroin seized in west Mobile drug bust (al.com)
- COUNTER-TERRORISM: Russia Versus The Heroin Lords (strategypage.com)
- Making Sense of Subutex (thewellnessquest.wordpress.com)
- Marijuana: Forbidden Medicine for Oregon’s Dangerous Workplace (salem-news.com)
- Scientists Identify Opium Poppy Genes that Make Promising Cancer Drug (healthland.time.com)
- How Did You Overcome Heroin Withdrawal? (healthadel.com)
- Interview: Heroin Addicts in Afghanistan: An Inside Look (prweb.com)
HEROIN
Posted on: July 18, 2012
- In: Blogroll
- 26 Comments
Heroin is usually injected, snorted or smoked. It is highly addictive. Heroin enters the brain rapidly but makes people think and react slowly, impairing their decision-making ability. It causes difficulty in remembering things.
Injecting the drug can create a risk of AIDS, hepatitis (liver disease) and other diseases caused by infected needles. These health problems can be passed on to sexual partners and newborns. Heroin is one of the three drugs most frequently involved in drug abuse deaths. Violence and crime are linked to its use.
Short-term Effects:
Abusers experience clouded mental functioning, nausea and vomiting. Awareness of pain may be suppressed. Pregnant women can suffer spontaneous abortion. Cardiac (heart) functions slow down and breathing is severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death.
Long-term Effects:
Scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels, heart valves, abscesses and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications may result. Sharing of needles or fluids may result in hepatitis, AIDS and other blood-borne virus diseases.
Related articles
- Pacman Development (wiki.archlinux.org)
- ‘It saved my life’ (lfpress.com)
- Clarksville police arrest 3 for possession of marijuana and heroin (whas11.com)
- Pacman Roadmap (wiki.archlinux.org)
- Template:TranslationStatus (简体中文) (wiki.archlinux.org)
- Briefly Left Alone, Toddler Ingests Heroin. (myteensavers.wordpress.com)
- Bad meth could kill (lfpress.com)
- In U.S., painkiller abusers turning to heroin: research (rawstory.com)
- Mayor Slay’s Brother Older Than Most Heroin Cases Here (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
- Police: Toddler Ingested Heroin Left Out By Parents (homedrugtestkit.wordpress.com)
I Am Addicted 2 
Recent Comments