Heroin is a powerful, addictive pain-killing drug. It is one of the most-used, most-rapidly acting, and most addictive of the opiate family, which includes opium, morphine, and codeine.
All opiates are derived from opium, a naturally occurring juice extracted from the seed pod of certain varieties of poppy (Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum). Heroin or 'diacetylmorphine' is a semi-synthetic derivative of morphine.
Heroin is increasingly used in clubland as a chill-out drug and has also recently become popular on the gay scene. It's relatively cheap and many smoke it to ease comedown from E, speed or coke.
The price of heroin varies according to how much is available. Generally it's between £40-£60 per gram, or around £15 for a third of a gram.
Heroin is a class A illegal substance in the UK, schedule I in the US.
appearance Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste. Street heroin comes in granule, powder, solution or pill forms and varies in colour from white to dark brown thanks to additives or impurities left from the manufacturing process.
Heroin in the UK often resembles packet chicken soup. In fact, strictly speaking, it isn't heroin at all - true heroin is a hydrochloride salt, soluble in water. The brown sold in the UK is diamorphine base - a product intended mainly for smoking, and is not soluble in water.
injecting Most regular users inject either intravenously (into a vein) or intra-muscularly (into a muscle, usually the shoulder) after heating heroin powder in a little water.
The brown heroin that dominates the UK and Dutch - market is insoluble in water and must be dissolved in acid, usually citric acid from lemons.
snorting / smoking However, an increasing number of people choose to smoke or snort lines of heroin, rather than inject.
When smoked, heroin is heated on foil and the vapour inhaled through a tube or rolled-up bank note. This is known as 'chasing the dragon'.
Heroin Dosage
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Although insufflation (snorting/sniffing) is perhaps the most common way heroin is now used in the Americas and Europe, we have little information about the pure dosages which are used. Often heroin users will be taught about how much to insufflate from the person they first try it with and then simply titrate their own dose as they wish by increasing or decreasing the size of the line used. Our guesstimate is that doses for insufflation are probably between 10 and 50 mg for less tolerant people and 20 to 80 mg for those who use frequently.
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Intra-veineous Heroin Dosages
w/ no tolerance w/ heavy tolerance
Common 5 - 10 mg 20 - 40 mg
Strong 8 - 15 mg 40 - 60 mg
Onset : 10 - 20 seconds
Duration : 4 - 5 hours
The charts above shows intraveinous (IV) dosages in milligrams (mg) for individuals with different levels of tolerance. Because people quickly develop tolerance to the effects of heroin, and because batches of heroin vary from extremely low (2-3%) to extremely high (98%) purity, dosages will vary dramatically depending on whether an individual has been using regularly, and for how long. The numbers on this page are approximations only and should not be used to determine actual dosages.
For some information about dosage at tolerance levels, see Heroin Tolerance Dosage Levels.
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Smoked Heroin Dosages
Common 15 - 25 mg
Strong 20 - 30 mg
Onset : 5 - 10 seconds
Peak Onset : 10 minutes
Peak Duration : 5 - 6 minutes
Duration : 3 - 5 hours
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Oral Heroin Dosages
Common 50 - 70 mg
Although oral use of heroin is uncommon among party and weekend users, it is sometimes used this way as a pain medication, by field workers, and by addicts trying to ween themselves off.
Every individual reacts differently to every chemical.
Know your Body - Know your Mind - Know your Substance - Know your Source.
