brown, smack, H, junk, horse, skag and sh*t.

	Feel as though you have been wrapped in cotton wool
	and that your problems aren’t there or important when you are under the influence of the drug
	Itchy
	Constipated (can’t pooh)
	Feel sick and throw up
	Fall asleep and pass out
	Not care about anything but heroin
	Become a criminal because you have to get money to buy heroin
	Lonely as no one wants to be around you because of the person heroin has made you
	Need to take it all the time

Heroin slows down the body. It slows down the breathing, heart and makes it difficult to cough the gunk up out of the body. This can cause illness and if the heart stops, death.

Heroin is a physically addictive drug. If a user doesn’t take the drug the following things happen: they get the shakes, their bones and muscles ache and are painful, they can’t sleep, they can’t get warm, they sweat and their noses run.This is called withdrawal.

Users can find it very difficult to stop and most say they wish they had never started. Put this together with the withdrawal when they do stop and you have got a drug that should be avoided at all costs.

Heroin comes from the opium poppy which is grown in hot countries. Getting heroin from opium is quite a complicated chemical process. You also get morphine from opium as well. Street Heroin comes as a brown powder.

Pharmaceutical heroin (made from chemicals) is called diamorphine and comes as a white powder.

Heroin can be injected, snorted and smoked, most often on tin foil.

Heroin is a class A drug.



Users often lose a lot of weight because they keep being sick. Users tend not to take great care of themselves in general. They get ill more easily and they often look dirty and unwell.

Users say they get the effects of heroin till their body gets used to it and then they don’t get the same “buzz”. This is when a person is hooked as their body has started to build up a tolerance. They now need to take the drug just to do everyday things or they will get withdrawal known as ‘cold turkey’ or ‘clucking’.

To get the buzz back they need to take more of the drug and this is why it can cost so much money. Some people use heroin for a little while and then stop. They don’t
get any withdrawal (or maybe just a bit) and they feel fine. They are fooling themselves if they think they will never get hooked. Many addicts start this way and all say they wish they had never started. Once you are on it it can be difficult to stay clean as it becomes a big part of you life. Medication can help but isn’t always enough.

Heroin is addictive no matter how it is used.