Heroin addiction can be formed just after the first injection

NarTest Drug Analyzer NTX2000 can reliably detect heroin and morphine even in their mixture. The profiling of heroin origin is able at the firsts minutes of drug measurements. Nearly 200 samples of street heroin were analyzed
with NTX2000 with zero false positive results.

Heroin is the most highly addictive drugs. It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates. Heroin is highly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. It particularly affects those regions of the brain responsible for producing physical dependence. In case of heroin dose absence “crash” already begins after 3 – 4 weeks of drug use.

Heroin remains the main problem drug in terms of treatment. Heroin poses special problems for those who inject it because of the risks of HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles. These health problems can be passed on to sexual partners and newborns. In the most cases the end of heroin using is death, prison or hospital.

Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed 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 also can 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.

According to the data of UNODC the opium/heroin market continued to expand on the strength of cultivation increases in Afghanistan which pushed up the area under illicit opium poppy cultivation worldwide by 17%. The area under opium poppy cultivation in Afganistan rose by 17% to 193,000 ha. This was the largest figure ever recorded in Afganistan. Cultivation also increased in South-East Asia, where it went up after six consecutive years of decline.

While demand has been relatively stable at the global level, the countries surrounding Afganistan continue to experience increasing levels of use. Increases were also recorded for most countries of East and Southern Africa. Consumer markets in Western and Central Europe seem to be largely stable. Opiates use also remains stable in North America. The total number of opiate users at the global level is now estimated at around 16,5 million people.

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