You're not alone. 

No parent, family member or friend knows exactly what to do when faced with a loved one who has an addiction. 

If you or someone you know need immediate help, call 775-825-HELP.

What is heroin and how is it used?

• Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive opiate drug synthesized from morphine. 
• Heroin is typically injected, snorted or smoked. 
• The heroin found in Nevada is a black, sticky substance known as "black tar heroin."

Users say they feel a sense of euphoria when first using heroin.  Like other drugs it hijacks the pleasure/reward pathway.  Regular heroin use can lead to tolerance which means the user will need more and more of the drug to feel the same effect (NIDA, 2010). 

A 26-year-old heroin addict says, "Heroin lasts, the part where you're getting high, for maybe a couple of months, and then I don't remember exactly but it seems it was all of a sudden like a maintenance kind of thing" (Cohen & Inaba, 2007).   A heroin users may start with one balloon per day and can quickly progress to using ten times that amount in weeks.  A typical heroin user may spend over $200 per day buying drugs.  

A dependent heroin user may have withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea and vomiting within a few hours of their last use. (NIDA, 2010).

Nearly half of heroin addicts will die prematurely (Hser, Hoffman, Grella, & Anglin, 2001).

Watch the heroin PSAs here.

What are the signs and symptoms of heroin use?

• constricted pupils
• sedation/sleepiness
• loss of appetite
• sudden weightloss
• lethargy
• cold and flu like symptoms that persist
• slurred speech in a raspy voice

What should I look for in the house?

• small balloons (used to transport individual doses of heroin - picture shown below)

• lighters
• hollowed out pens or straws
• tin foil with burn marks or black resin (shown below)
     - the lighter is used under the tinfoil to burn the heroin
• black resin smudges on furniture drawers, door knobs, light switches

What else should I look for?

• a child who may be asking for a lot of money
• missing items (the user may be selling clothing or other items from home for cash)

What would you do to raise money for a $200 a day habit? 

Heroin users may:

• ask for money
• sell items for money
• steal
• prostitute

Local statistics from the Regional Street Enforcement Team provided by Reno SET:

• In 2006, only 28% of heroin arrestees were under the age of 30 -- in 2009, 65% were under 30.
• In 2009, nearly 1 in 5 people arrested for heroin were teenagers.
• The percentage of heroin arrestees under age 30 more than doubled from 2006 to 2009.
• Heroin seizures have increased by 3500% from 2007 to October 2010.

Make a donation to support the heroin education campaign here.

Some helpful links:

Heroin (Medline Plus)

NIDA, National Institute on Drug Abuse

ONDCP, Office of National Drug Control Policy

Parents. The Anti-Drug.

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator

Sources:

Cohen, W. & Inaba, D. (2007). Downers: Opiates/Opioids & sedative-hypnotics. In Uppers, Downers, All Arounders (2nd ed., pp 170-175). Medford, Oregon: CNS Productions, Inc.

Hser, Y.I, Hoffman, V, Grella, C.E., & Anglin, M.D. (2001). A 33-year follow-up of narcotics addicts. Archives of General Psychiatry 58 (5), 503-508.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (2010). NIDA InfoFacts: Heroin. Retrieved from http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/heroin.html