Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive drug. It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates. Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed or pod of certain varieties of poppy plants. It is typically sold as a white or brownish powder or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as “black tar heroin.” Although purer heroin is becoming more common, most street heroin is “cut” with other drugs or with substances such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. Street heroin can also be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death. Heroin also poses special problems because of the transmission of HIV and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles or other injection equipment.

Heroin is usually injected, sniffed/snorted, or smoked. Typically, a heroin abuser may inject up to four times a day. Intravenous injection provides the greatest intensity and most rapid onset of euphoria, while intra-muscular injection produces a relatively slow onset of euphoria. When heroin is sniffed or smoked, peak effects are usually felt within 10 to 15 minutes. Although smoking and sniffing heroin do not produce a “rush” as quickly or as intensely as intravenous injection, researchers have confirmed that all three forms of heroin administration are addictive.

Injection continues to be the predominant method of heroin use among addicted users seeking treatment; however, researchers have observed a shift in heroin use patterns, from injection to sniffing and smoking. In fact, sniffing/snorting heroin is now a widely reported means of taking heroin among users admitted for drug treatment. Heroin addicts often name kicking this habit as the hardest thing to do in life. Many experience extreme symptoms of withdrawal that take an extreme physical toll on them making it seemingly impossible to break the cycle of abuse.

Drug addiction is a serious problem that can affect us all. Whether you
know someone who has had a drug or alcohol problem, or have one
yourself, there is a way to get help.

Effective drug rehabilitation addresses both the physical dependence and
the psychological addiction of the substance abuser. By treating both
the dependence and the addiction harmoniously, the patient has the best
chance of making a full, lasting recovery. If only one aspect of the
affliction is addressed, the chance of a relapse increases.

Physical dependency is treated by putting the patient through a complete
and immediate detoxification process, during which time the patient is
not permitted access to either drugs or alcohol. This allows the body to
remove all traces of the abused substance. This process can take days or
months, depending on the substance abused and the length of the abuse,
both of which contribute to the patient’s tolerance to the substance.
Detox should always be closely monitored by trained medical personnel,
as withdrawal symptoms can be potentially life-threatening.

Once all traces of the drug have been removed from the body, the
psychological desire to continue using can become overwhelming. In order
to help overcome this addiction, it is recommended that the patient
enter into a custom counseling program or sober living facility. Twelve-step programs
are also recommended and they are one of the most effective ways to
battle this psychological desire.

In addition to regular counseling of some sort, the patient should be
diligent in maintaining a drug-free lifestyle. Especially at the
beginning of their treatment, they should distance themselves from
substance abusers and situations where substance abuse might be
occurring, even if this means alienating their friends. If a patient is
particularly susceptible to peer pressure, extended inpatient therapy
might be recommended to help establish a drug-free environment during
the most critical first stages of treatment. For those patients whose
addiction is not as severe, outpatient treatment is available.

Making the commitment to recover from a serious substance abuse problem
is a lifestyle change, and therefore it is not something that happens
overnight. The reasons people begin using and abusing drugs are
different for everyone, and the most effective rehabilitation plans are
custom tailored to each individual’s needs. Once the physical dependence
has been combated, the psychological addiction must be faced every day
for the rest of the patient’s life.

There is no magic wand to make an addict suddenly not be an addict
anymore, but with diligence and a strong foundation from a good drug
rehabilitation program, the recovering addict can lead a normal,
successful life.

Approximately 100 years after cocaine entered into use, a new variation of the substance emerged. This substance, crack, became enormously popular in the mid-1980s due in part to its almost immediate high and the fact that it is inexpensive to produce and buy.

Crack is a highly addictive form of cocaine that is typically smoked. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound heard when the substance is heated, presumably from the sodium bicarbonate that is used in the production of crack. Smoking crack delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing effects comparable to intravenous injection. These effects are felt almost immediately after smoking, are very intense, but do not last long. For example, the high from smoking cocaine may last from 5 to 10 minutes, while the high from snorting the drug can last for 15 to 20 minutes.

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug. Compulsive cocaine use seems to develop more rapidly when the substance is smoked rather than snorted. A tolerance to the cocaine high may be developed and many addicts report that they fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first cocaine exposure. Sources say that crack cocaine users can become addicted to the drug as early as the first hit. Many who have become addicted say that kicking the habit may be the hardest thing they have ever had to do.

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that directly affects the brain. The pure chemical, cocaine hydrochloride, has been an abused substance for more than 100 years, and coca leaves, the source of cocaine, have been ingested for thousands of years.

Cocaine is generally sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder, known as coke, C, snow, or blow. Street dealers generally dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine (a chemically-related local anesthetic) or with such other stimulants such as amphetamines.

Cocaine can be snorted through the nose, smoked, or injected. Injecting cocaine — or injecting any drug — carries the added risk of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, if the user shares a needle with a person already infected with the virus. The drug can also be rubbed onto mucous tissues. Some users combine cocaine powder or crack with heroin making what is called a speedball.

Once having tried cocaine, an individual may have difficulty predicting or controlling the extent to which he or she will continue to use the drug. Use of cocaine in a binge, during which the drug is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high doses, leads to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. This may result in a full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the individual loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.

Users often report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety, and cocaine can trigger paranoia. Users also report being depressed when they are not using the drug and often resume use to alleviate further depression. In addition, cocaine users frequently find that they need more and more cocaine more often to generate the same level of stimulation. Therefore, any use can lead to addiction.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by William Griffith Wilson (William W.) and Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith (Dr. Bob) in 1935. In 1939 the fledgling organization published its basic textbook, Alcoholics Anonymous. This book, affectionately known as the Big Book, remains the primary text of the group today.

Through their travels, William W. and Dr. Bob, both former alcoholics, learned to treat alcoholism as a disease. They realized the necessity to counteract the hopelessness of the affliction. The conversion of AA lies in the transition from drunkenness to sobriety more than a state of not drinking. The two found that the conversion must move the alcoholic into a life that has no need for drinking. Bill W. and Dr. Bob went to work at the Akron City Hospital in Ohio and converted another drunk to sobriety. These three converts formed the first fellowship that would follow the parameters now followed by present day AA members.

These days AA boasts 2,000,000 recovered alcoholics worldwide. Many say such success lies in the famous AA 12 step program. The parameters of the program lie as follows:

1.One must admit to be powerless over alcohol — that their lives had become unmanageable.
2.Believe that a Power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity.
3.Make a decision to turn your will and your life over to the care of God
4.Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself
5.Admit to God, to yourself and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs.
6.Be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly ask Him to remove your shortcomings.
8.Make a list of all persons you have harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.Continue to take personal inventory and when you are wrong promptly admit it.
11.Seek to improve your conscious contact with God as you understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for you and the power to carry that out.
12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, try to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all affairs