Texas has its fair share of heroin addiction problems. Thousands in are admitted to Texas drug addiction clinics each year. Surprisingly, many teenagers and adults become addicted to prescription pain killers later turning to heroin due to the ease of availability. Heroin is a physically and mentally addictive drug that grasps the lives the innocent unknowingly until it’s too late. If you are a loved suffer heroin addiction we don’t need to tell you what you’re up against, but we can help guide you and show the way to help get solutions, putting heroin addiction behind you for good.
Heroin is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. The white crystalline form is commonly the hydrochloride salt (diacetylmorphine hydrochloride) and called heroin, though often adulterated thus dulling the consistent sheen texture to a white powder, which heroin diacetylmorphine freebase typically is. 90% of Heroin is thought to be produced in Afghanistan, although most of the Heroin in Texas comes from Mexico and Columbia.
As with other opioids, heroin is used as both an analgesic and a recreational drug. Frequent and regular administration is associated with tolerance and physical dependence, which may develop into heroin addiction. There are thousands suffering heroin addiction are admitted into Texas drug rehabs throughout the state.
Heroin Addiction Treatment And Origins Of Heroin
In 1895, the German drug company Bayer marketed diacetylmorphine as an over the counter drug under the trademark name Heroin. The name was derived from the German word “heroisch” (heroic) because of its perceived “heroic” effects upon a user. It was a marketing ploy by Bayer as a morphine substitute for cough suppressants that did not have morphine’s addictive side-effects. Morphine at the time was a popular recreational drug. However, contrary to Bayer’s advertising as a “non-addictive morphine substitute,” Heroin would soon have one of the highest rates of dependence amongst its users.
Traffic is heavy worldwide, with the biggest producer being Afghanistan. According to a U.N. sponsored survey, as of 2004, Afghanistan accounted for production of 87 percent of the world’s diacetylmorphine. Afghan opium kills 100,000 people every year worldwide. There is also cultivation of opium poppies in the Sinaloa region of Mexico and in Colombia. The majority of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico and Colombia. Up until 2004, Pakistan was considered one of the biggest opium-growing countries.
Heroin Addiction Rehab and Withdrawal
Heroin addiction causes the body to go numb and slows the function of organs. Heroin drastically affects the functions of the heart and lungs often slowing these organs down to the point of respiratory failure or suffocation. The high from heroin effects most users like a tranquilizer however some addicts feel a sense of energy upon admission. Falling asleep or “nodding off” is common. Although the high during heroin addiction varies with the uses heroin withdrawal symptoms do not.
Heroin withdrawal symptoms include sweats, chills, headaches, fever, nausea, diarrhea and leg aches. Its like having a severe case of the flue magnified several times over. Heroin addicts desperately try to avoid these withdrawal symptoms by continuing to use, even when they want to quit or turning to alternative drugs like methadone or suboxone. If you live in Texas and suffer heroin addiction please keep in mind these drugs are marketed just as heroin was back in the early 20th century and non addictive, which is another marketing ploy by the pharmaceutical companies.