I was crusing the web today and I came across this website called
www.streetdrugs.org (http://www.streetdrugs.org), it is very interesting. One in particular is on Heroin over
dose's and autopies. Take a look, it scard me straight.

Thanks for the site. There is a lot of informative information on there.

Yea...there is alot of info on there. I couldn't find the pictures though. Oh well. Hugs:p
-Jackie

As you log on to the website, scroll down until you see a post that says Heroin

overdose's and autopies. Click on that site. There are 30 photo's of what Heroin
addicts use, and do while addicted to Heroin. There are also photo's of people
that have died from Heroin addiction. I was a heroin abuser for over 20 years of
my life. I am in bio therapy now and treatment. I just pray everyday that I will
stay clean and never go back to that demon. I took advantage of everyone that
came in contact with me, mostly homegirl. I promised her I would get help, and
shortly before her death, I did. I wished that I had done it sooner. I put her through alot of stress and I am not afraid to admit that I was a total jerk to her
many times. The biggest picture of being on Heroin, is the denial that you can
get it under control on your own, and that is the biggest lie of it all. Without
help, you are not curing the problems associated with it, only making things
worse and worse. Not only for yourself but for the loved ones in your life that
love and care about your well being. Homegirl was always forgiving of me, but
I know that in my heart she was sick and tired of all the b.s. I put her through. And all the money that I wasted on buying and using it. And all the
abcesses that I had on my arms, and stomach because I didn't have any veins left. I am trying my best to stay the heck away from it, because I have
learned that Heroin, doesn't care if you lose your job, it doesn't care if you
lose your family, it doesn't care if you return to prison, it only cares about destorying your life.

Thanks for sharing

THank you .. i ditto what you say HEROIN KILLS

Peace
Donna

I can't find the pictures.....can someone tell me where they are??

FieldsofGold- excellent post.....
My boyfriend is a heroin addict, who has been clean for a while now thank God, and you are so right when you say that the biggest mistake addicts make is thinking they can control it on their own. I can't even count how many times my guy would tell me that he could handle it, that he could quit without help, that he doesn't need help because there isn't anything that can be said to him that he hasn't already heard before. It took prison to get him clean, and now he is taking care of himself, finally. "Heroin, doesn't care if you lose your job, it doesn't care if you
lose your family, it doesn't care if you return to prison, it only cares about destorying your life." I have never heard a more true statement. That pretty much says it all doesn't it?
I can't even imagine what you are going through right now-I just want to say that you seem to have a handle on your addiction and I hope you hang on to that! Staying clean is the best thing you can do for yourself, as I am sure you know.
Stay strong and feel free to pm me if you ever need anything!
Thanks for your opinions in this forum- hearing the other side of the story helps all of us who love an addict!

Amen to your post Jeni. :)

Heroin scared me straight in some movie I watched years ago watching someone trying to kick and that was enough for me never to try it. Smoked it 2-3 times and didn't like it!

i can't find the pix can some one help!!

Go to google.com, type in street drugs .com, scroll down till you come to one that says
" Heroin addicts/ Overdoses and autopies. Click on, on the left side it shows what you
want to choose from, choose photo's of autopies. It is disgusting and gross but it gets
the point very well across.

The website is www.streetdrugs.org - right?

I've been trying to find these pictures you were talking about but haven't been able to find them. Where on the front page of this site did you go to get to the "heroin addicts - overdoses & autopsies" section? I've clicked on several things on that site's front page but still haven't found these... very interested in seeing them tho...

ok i'm just totally lost or well a couple bottles short of a six pack, can someone put the link to the exact spot where the pictures are? i have been looking all mornign and can't find these pics. thanks for any help

I thought it was just me....I can't find the pictures either!!!!

i still have not been able to find these pics.:confused: is there anyone that can help i'd like to send the info to my hubby who is incarcerated right now cause of heroin use. thanks for any help. Tonya

Heroin is used by injection, smoking or snorting. The effects of using heroin are: pain relief, euphoria, drowsiness, and a staggering gait. The same effects are seen when a person is under the influence of other substances which are in the same "class" of drugs and have a similar chemical structure, e.g., codeine, fentanyl, morphine and opium. Oxycontin also is in this same category of drugs. The potential health consequences of such substances include respiratory depression and arrest, nausea, confusion, constipation, sedation, unconsciousness, coma, tolerance and addiction.

Signs of Heroin Use
Heroin users demonstrate several typical signs when they have been using the drug. These symptoms include the following:

Euphoria
Impaired mental functioning
Slower breathing
Needle tracks or abscesses on arms and other body parts
Constricted pupils
Constipation
Slowed and slurred speech
Itching (at first few uses, sometimes later at larger doses)
Dry mouth
Reduced appetite / thirst
Nausea
Nodding off, ‘gouching’ (at very high doses)
Relaxed detachment from pain (increased tolerance to pain), desires and activity
Decreased sexual pleasure, indifference to sex

Heroin Tolerance, Addiction, Withdrawal and Overdose
The heroin abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same intensity or effect. As higher doses are used over time, physical dependence and addiction to heroin develop. With physical heroin dependence, the body has adapted to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms may occur if heroin use is reduced or stopped.

Symptoms of Heroin Withdrawal
Heroin withdrawal, which in regular abusers may occur as early as a few hours after the last administration, produces drug craving, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), kicking movements ("kicking the habit"), and other symptoms. Major heroin withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose and subside after about a week. Sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent users who are in poor health is occasionally fatal, although heroin withdrawal is considered much less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate withdrawal.

As heroin withdrawal progresses, elevations in blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and temperature occur. Among heroin withdrawal symptoms are:

dilated pupils
piloerection (goose bumps)
watery eyes
runny nose
yawning
loss of appetite
tremors
panic
chills
nausea
muscle cramps
insomnia

Symptoms of Heroin Overdose
Symptoms of heroin overdose -- which may result in death -- include shallow breathing, clammy skin, convulsions and coma

Additional heroin addiction problems
Heroin can cause feelings of depression, which may last for weeks. Attempts to stop using heroin can fail simply because the withdrawal can be overwhelming, causing the addict to use more heroin in an attempt to overcome these symptoms. This overpowering addiction can cause the addict to do anything to get heroin.


Heroin can be:

Injected into a vein ("mainlining").

Smoked by running the powder on tin foil and inhaling the smoke through a foil tube (tooter). Known as 'chasing the dragon' because the user chases the heroin blob around the foil.

Injected into a muscle (intramuscularly) or under the skin (subcutaneously or 'skin-popping').

Smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint, or made into a joint with tobacco.

Snorted as powder via the nose (mainly in the US).

Some tools of the trade
Needles
straws
pipes
spoons, metal bottle caps (burnt)
cigarette filters, cotton balls

The short-term effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours. After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria ("rush") accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes "on the nod," an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system.

One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin is addiction itself. Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence, which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse. As with abusers of any addictive drug, heroin abusers gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains.
At some point during continuous heroin use, a person can become addicted to the drug. Sometimes addicted individuals will endure many of the withdrawal symptoms to reduce their tolerance for the drug so that they can again experience the rush.

Physical dependence and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms were once believed to be the key features of heroin addiction. We now know this may not be the case entirely, since craving and relapse can occur weeks and months after withdrawal symptoms are long gone. We also know that patients with chronic pain who need opiates to function (sometimes over extended periods) have few if any problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved by other means. This may be because the patient in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by the addict.

Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.
Of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse-infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other blood-borne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children.

Heroin abuse can cause serious complications during pregnancy, including miscarriage and premature delivery. Children born to addicted mothers are at greater risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), as well. Pregnant women should not be detoxified from opiates because of the increased risk of spontaneous abortion or premature delivery; rather, treatment with methadone is strongly advised. Although infants born to mothers taking prescribed methadone may show signs of physical dependence, they can be treated easily and safely in the nursery. Research has demonstrated also that the effects of in utero exposure to methadone are relatively benign.

please,please, don't even try it. the initial high is extreme and all of your money and effort will go toward getting that feeling back but you never will. it will ruin your llife and hurt all those around you.

Self-knowledge will not keep anyone clean and sober. I've known all of these things for YEARS, but I continued to use. It is not that I do not think this information valuable and informative, but the truth for me is that all of the self-knowledge about neurotransmittors, triggers, cravings, etc., etc. has never one time kept me from using or relapsing. What I have come to believe is that I have no mental defense against using. At certain times, I am unable to recall into my memory with sufficient force the suffering and humiliation that using has always inevitably brought on. If I do recall these things, the memory is hazy at best. Again, no mental defense -- I have come to accept that my mental powers, and self-knowledge, are terribly insufficient in this regard, and that in fact, I am insane when it comes to using drugs and alcohol. It is only through complete surrender, admission of powerlessness, and accepting that I must rely on a power greater than myself before I have found any meaningful sobriety.