Chasing the Dragon 
 Tee Shirt 
 

                                                                            Heroin is an opioid painkiller and the 3, 6-diacetyl ester of morphine. Heroin                                                                               is prescribed as an analgesic, cough suppressant and as an anti diarrhoeal.                                                                                It is also used as a recreational drug for its  euphoric effects .

                                                                            Frequent and regular administration is associated with tolerance and

                                                                            physical dependence. In some countries it is available for prescription to

                                                                            long term use as a form of  opioid  replacement therapy alongside

                                                                            counselling.

                                                                            It was originally synthesized by C. R.  Alder Wright in 1874 by adding two

                                                                            acetyl groups to the molecule morphine, a natural product of the  opium                                                                                        poppy .

                                                                            Internationally, heroin is controlled under Schedules I and IV of the Single                                                                                   Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is generally illegal to manufacture,                                                                                            possess, or sell heroin without a license. In 2004, Afghanistan produced                                                                                      roughly 87% of the world supply in illicit  raw opium . However, the                                                                                              production rate in Mexico rose six fold from 2007 to 2011, making Mexico                                                                                    the second largest opium producer in the world.

                                                                            Administered intravenously by injection, heroin is two to four times more                                                                                      potent than morphine and is faster in its onset of action. Illicit heroin is                                                                                        sometimes available in a  matte-white powder freebase form . Because of its                                                                              lower boiling point, the freebase form of heroin is smokable.

                                                                             Diamorphine , almost always still called by its original trade name of heroin    in non-medical settings, is used as a recreational drug for the intense euphoria it induces.

Anthropologist Michael Agar once described heroin as "the perfect whatever drug." Tolerance develops quickly, and

increased doses are needed in order to achieve the same effects.

Its popularity with recreational drug users, compared to morphine, reportedly stems from its perceived different effects. In particular, users report an intense rush,  an acute transcendent state of euphoria , which occurs while diamorphine is being metabolized into 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) and morphine in the brain.

Some believe that heroin produces more euphoria than other opioids; one possible explanation is the presence of 6-monoacetylmorphine, a metabolite unique to heroin – although a more likely explanation is the rapidity of its onset. While other opioids of recreational use produce only morphine, heroin also leaves  6-MAM,  also a psycho-active metabolite. However, this perception is not supported by the results of clinical studies comparing the physiological and subjective effects                                                                              of injected heroin and morphine in individuals formerly addicted to opioids;                                                                                  these subjects showed no preference for one drug over the other. Equipotent                                                                              injected doses had comparable action courses, with no difference in                                                                                            subjects' self-rated feelings of euphoria, ambition, nervousness, relaxation,                                                                                drowsiness, or sleepiness.

                                                                            Short-term addiction studies by the same researchers demonstrated that                                                                                    tolerance developed at a similar rate to both heroin and morphine. When                                                                                    compared to the opioids hydromorphone, fentanyl,  oxycodone , and                                                                                            pethidine (meperidine), former addicts showed a strong preference for heroin                                                                              and morphine, suggesting that heroin and morphine are particularly                                                                                            susceptible to abuse and addiction. Morphine and heroin were also much                                                                                    more likely to produce euphoria and other positive subjective effects when                                                                                  compared to these other opioids. 

                                                                            Some researchers have attempted to explain heroin use and the culture that                                                                               surrounds it through the use of sociological theories. In Righteous Dopefiend,                                                                             Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg use anomie theory to explain why                                                                                      people begin using heroin. By analyzing a community in San Francisco, they                                                                              demonstrated that heroin use was caused in part by internal and external factors such as violent homes and parental neglect. This lack of emotional, social, and financial support causes strain and influences individuals to engage in deviant acts, including heroin usage. They further found that heroin users practiced "retreatism", a behaviour first described by  Howard Abadinsky , in which those suffering from such strain reject society's goals and institutionalized means of achieving them.

Smoking heroin refers to  vaporising  it to inhale the resulting fumes, not

burning it to inhale the resulting smoke. It is commonly smoked in glass

pipes made from glass blown Pyrex tubes and light bulbs. It can also be

smoked off aluminium foil, which is heated underneath by a flame and the

resulting smoke is inhaled through a tube of rolled up foil, This method is

also known as "chasing the dragon" (whereas smoking methamphetamine

is known as "chasing the white dragon").

Like most opioids, unadulterated heroin does not cause many long-term

complications other than dependence and constipation. The average purity

of street heroin in the UK varies between 30% and 50% and heroin that

has been  seized at the border has purity levels between 40% and 60% ;

this variation has led to people suffering from overdoses as a result of the

heroin missing a stage on its journey from port to end user, as each set of

hands that the drug passes through adds further adulterants, the strength of the drug reduces, with the effect that if steps are missed, the purity of the drug reaching the end user is higher than they are used to. Intravenous use of heroin (and any other substance) with non-sterile needles and syringes or other related equipment may lead to:

• The risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis by the sharing of needles

• The risk of contracting bacterial or fungal endocarditis and possibly venous sclerosis

• Abscesses

• Poisoning from contaminants added to "cut" or dilute heroin

• Decreased kidney function (although it is not currently known if this is because of adulterants or infectious diseases)

Heroin overdose is usually treated with an opioid

antagonist, such as naloxone ( Narcan ), or naltrexone.

This reverses the effects of heroin and other opioids and

causes an immediate return of consciousness but may

result in withdrawal symptoms. The half-life of naloxone is

shorter than most opioids, so that it has to be administered

multiple times until the opioid has been metabolised by the

body.

Depending on drug interactions and numerous other

factors, death from overdose can take anywhere from

several minutes to several hours. Death usually occurs due

to lack of oxygen resulting from the lack of breathing

caused by the opioid. Heroin overdoses can occur because

of an unexpected increase in the dose or purity or because

of diminished opioid tolerance. However, many fatalities reported as overdoses are probably caused by interactions with other depressant drugs such as alcohol or  benzodiazepines . It should also be noted that since heroin can cause nausea and vomiting, a significant number of deaths attributed to heroin overdose are caused by aspiration of vomit by an unconscious person. Some sources quote the median lethal dose for an average 75 kg opiate-naive individual as being between 75 and 600mg. Illicit heroin is of widely varying and unpredictable purity. This means that the user may prepare what they consider to be a moderate dose while actually taking far more than intended. Also, tolerance typically decreases after a period of abstinence. If this occurs and the user takes a dose comparable to their previous use, the user may experience drug effects that are much greater than expected, potentially resulting in an overdose. It has been speculated that an unknown portion of heroin-related deaths are the result of an overdose or allergic reaction to quinine, which may sometimes be used as a cutting agent.

                                                                    In the United States, diamorphine is a Schedule I drug according to the

                                                                    Controlled Substances Act of 1970, making it illegal to possess without a                                                                                     DEA license .

                                                                    Possession of more than 100 grams of diamorphine or a mixture containing                                                                               diamorphine is punishable with a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years of                                                                             imprisonment in a federal prison.

                                                                    Diamorphine is produced from acetylation of morphine derived from  natural                                                                                opium  sources. Numerous mechanical and chemical means are used to purify                                                                        the final product. The final products have a different appearance depending on                                                                          purity and have different names.

                                                                    Heroin purity has been classified into four grades. No.4 is the purest form –white   powder (salt) to be easily dissolved and injected. No.3 is brown sugar for smoking (base). No.1 and No.2 are unprocessed raw heroin (salt or base).

Traffic is heavy worldwide, with the biggest producer being Afghanistan. According to a U.N. sponsored survey, in 2004, Afghanistan accounted for production of 87 percent of the world's diamorphine. Afghan opium kills around 100,000 people annually. In 2003 The Independent reported:

                                                                      ...The cultivation of opium in Afghanistan reached its peak in 1999, when 350 square miles (910 km2) of poppies were sown ...The following year the Taliban banned poppy cultivation, ...a move which

cut production by 94 percent ...By 2001 only 30 square miles (78 km2) of land were in use for growing opium poppies.

A year later, after American and British troops had removed the Taliban and installed the interim government, the land under cultivation leapt back to 285 square miles (740 km2), with Afghanistan supplanting Burma to become the world's largest opium producer once more.

Opium production in that country has increased rapidly since, reaching an all-time high in 2006. War in Afghanistan once again appeared as a facilitator of the trade. Some 3.3 million Afghans are involved in producing opium.

At present, opium poppies are mostly grown in Afghanistan, and in Southeast Asia, especially in the region known as the Golden Triangle straddling Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Yunnan province in China. There is also cultivation of opium poppies in the Sinaloa region of Mexico and in Colombia.  According to the DEA, the majority of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico (50%) and Colombia (43-45%) via Mexican criminal cartels such as Sinaloa Cartel. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ), Pakistan has over 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of opium poppies under cultivation concentrated in the areas bordering Afghanistan and is the destination and transit point for 40 percent of the opiates produced in that country.