It is illegal to use, possess (carry) and sell heroin in the United States. All heroin charges can lead to legal fines and prison time. Finally, to get support right away, search for a Heroin Anonymous program to be connected to other people in recovery who can offer a wealth of support and access to resources. If you are concerned about a family member using heroin, know that recovery is possible.
Rates of overdose deaths involving heroin
First, heroin abuse often results from people seeking the drug after forming an addiction to prescription drugs, such as other opioids. Though anyone can develop a substance use disorder, genes and environment play a big role in who’ll get one. Other strong risk factors for drug misuse include mistreatment as a child, family history of substance misuse, and a personal history of mental illness or drug use. Your medical team can help you find the treatment plan that works best for you. It will probably include medication and behavioral therapy. Experts say this medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the “gold standard” of care for people who have heroin addiction.
- Patients who abuse painkillers by taking too many or taking them too frequently can become addicted, and turn to heroin long after chronic pain treatment has ended.
- Over time, you may lose the ability to control your actions or make good decisions.
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Is it illegal to use heroin, or just to carry and sell it?
Whatever the reason for heroin use, this behavior has dangerous consequences and almost always leads to addiction. The talking points below are written in plain language as a suggested way to communicate concepts of drug use and addiction to adults or teens. Copyright © 2025, AddictionHelp.com The information provided by AddictionHelp.com is not a substitute for professional medical advice. View our editorial content guidelines to learn how we create helpful content with integrity and compassion. Compare centers, explore options and start your path to recovery today.
Common Reasons People Start Using Heroin
Stigma can be a major barrier to how well prevention and treatment programs work against the opioid crisis. The liver starts to break down (or metabolize) heroin within minutes. If someone took your blood, they could only detect the pure form of the drug for about 5 minutes.
Understanding Drug Use and Addiction DrugFacts
You can expose your baby to heroin if you use drugs while you’re pregnant. This raises the odds that your unborn child will become dependent on heroin and have withdrawal symptoms when they’re born. Prescription painkillers are often far more costly than heroin, especially when patients lack funds or health insurance coverage.
Reversing an opioid overdose
Overdose prevention is a CDC priority that impacts families and communities. Drug overdose is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
This means heroin has no medical use and a high potential for abuse and addiction. International control of heroin began in 1912 when the drug was placed in the same category as cocaine and morphine by the Hague Opium Convention. Someone who’s overdosing may need more than one dose of naloxone or further medical care. After you give them a dose of naloxone, call 911 or get them to the ER right away.
- This transition often means they already had a chronic pain condition.
- Research shows that combining addiction treatment medicines with behavioral therapy ensures the best chance of success for most patients.
- Your heart and breathing may slow or stop if you take too many depressants.
- Naloxone is a safe medication that can quickly reverse an overdose from opioids like heroin if it is given in time.
As with most other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, why do people use heroin asthma, or heart disease, treatment for drug addiction generally isn’t a cure. However, addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed. People who are recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly for their whole lives.
Withdrawal from Prescription Opioids
Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy behaviors like taking drugs, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again. Drugmakers often mix heroin with other substances to make their product bulkier, cheaper, and stronger. This may include fentanyl, a powerful painkiller that’s often made and sold illegally. You can easily overdose and die on fentanyl, especially if you don’t know that it’s in the heroin you’re taking.
As a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex, or social activities. Try taking a substance abuse assessment online, such as through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Medication and other substance use treatments can help ease drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms that come with ongoing heroin use. Talk to your doctor or go to a substance use clinic if you can’t stop using heroin on your own or you’re afraid of what might happen to your body and mind once you quit. Medication can help lessen your drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
Heroin is made in illegal drug labs, usually near places where opium poppies grow. A trigger is anything that makes you feel the urge to go back to using drugs. It can be a place, person, thing, smell, feeling, picture, or memory that reminds you of taking a drug and getting high. A trigger can be something stressful that you want to escape from.