Opiates and narcotics

Heroin and morphine are the most common drugs in this family. Heroin (smack, horse, junk, and dope) is made from the opium poppy and is a white or brownish powder (or a brown sticky substance known as tar). Heroin is typically cut or mixed with other white powder additives.

Heroin is snorted, smoked (chased), or injected (the most common route). After ingesting heroin, you may feel a sense of euphoria, contentment, well-being and warmth. Heroin and morphine are painkillers. The side effects you amy expect are nausea, vomiting, itching and slowed breathing.

Two other powerful painkillers, oxycodone hydrochloride (OxyContin) and hydrocodone bitartrate (Vicodin) are increasingly popular substances to abuse. OxyContin is a controlled-release drug that provides approximately 12 hours of pain relief. The drug has high potential for abuse, because the more you take, the better you feel. This effect is different from other pain relievers like aspirin or acetaminophen; these drugs have a threshold to their effectiveness.

People who abuse OxyContin avoid the controlled release by chewing, snorting, or injecting the drug to get an intense high.

Painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin act on the same parts of the brain as does heroin, There has been a troubling increase in reported abuse of these drugs in high school students. Parents, grandparents, and other adults should keep a close eye on medicine cabinets if anyone in the house is taking these drugs.

The opiates, particularly the newer painkillers described above, have a very high addiction potential. These drugs seem to pull you back to chasing the high you experienced. And the tolerance effects ensure that you will need to use more and more of the drug to get to the same state.