An estimated 2.4 million people have used heroin at some time in their lives.
Heroin use has been on the rise in the United States since 1992. The estimated number of heroin users in one month increased from 68,000 in 1993 to 325,000 in 1997.2
There were 81,000 new heroin users in 1997. A large proportion of these recent new users were smoking, snorting, or sniffing heroin, and most (87 percent) were under age 26. In 1992, only 61 percent were younger than 26.1
Heroin use by twelfth graders increased by more than 100 percent from 1990 to 1997.2
Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder and is injected, sniffed/snorted, or smoked.2
Heroin abuse is associated with serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, collapsed veins, and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.2
After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria ("rush") accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes "on the nod," an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system.3
Withdrawal, which in regular abusers may occur as early as a few hours after the last administration, produces drug craving, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), kicking movements ("kicking the habit"), and other symptoms. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose and subside after about a week.4
Since the epidemic began, injection drug use has directly and indirectly accounted for more than one-third (36%) of AIDS cases in the United States. Of the 42,156 new cases of AIDS reported in 2000, 11,635 (28%) were IDU-associated.5
Research Excerpts
"In addition to risking an early death, this long-term study shows that heroin users often suffer from hepatitis, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems, and many have criminal justice histories. The study emphasizes the pervasive public health and public safety consequences of heroin use and the need for comprehensive approaches to deal with it."6
"The proliferation of cheap, high-purity heroin during the 1990s has played an important role in the increase in heroin use among young people. In the early 1980s, the purity of heroin on New York City streets was about 5 percent. In 1996, the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that heroin purity ranged from 68 percent to 80 percent. High-purity heroin enables users to get high by snorting and smoking the drug instead of injecting it, Dr. Fischman said, noting, 'This ability to use heroin without injecting it makes it more attractive and less frightening to the user.'"7
Media Quotes
"During what seemed like an epidemic of urban heroin use in the 1970's, the images of the typical addict -- strung out, nodding off on street corners, track marks along every vein -- were so strong that they turned off an entire generation of potential users. Those images did not resonate so strongly in places where addicts were seen only on television. So when heroin became purer and cheaper in the 1990's, it took root in predominantly white, working- and middle-class communities."8
"Heroin is easier to get than alcohol. The liquor stores and bars eventually close but the heroin stores are open 24 hours a day."2
