Heroin Addiction Research Paper
Heroin Addiction
Rupert Pulliam
COMP/156
August 3, 2013
Shelley Gordon
Heroin Addiction
Linda is on her way to the local pawnshop to get a loan on her son’s video game console so she can get her daily fix of heroin. Linda cannot not function because she is not feeling well; Linda is vomiting, nose running, has stomach cramps, and muscle aches. Once Linda gets the cash she needs, she is off to buy a couple of bags of heroin. Heroin, abusing the drug will change how a person’s brain and body functions. Heroin is an extremely addictive opiate; it is produced from morphine. Opium is a substance that is extracted from the seedpod of the opium poppy plant. The color of heroin can vary depending on the purity of it. The purer the heroin, the whiter it will be. The reason the color varies it is due to the impurities in the heroin National Drug Institute (2013). According to U.S. …show more content…
This initial use sets the individual up for addiction because the feeling of euphoria it produces. Overtime with continued use of heroin, the brain starts to require the extra opiates to tell the body it feels normal. When the brain does not have that extra boost of opiates, it sends the body into panic mode. This panic mode leads the individual to addiction because the brain is craving more of the extra opiates. When an individual uses heroin for years it changes how the brain works. A person who does not use heroin has a certain level of dopamine that is produced on a regular basis so one can feel normal. When an individual uses heroin everyday he or she trains their brain not to produce dopamine which is naturally produced to feel normal. The individual’s brain is not producing dopamine any longer because the heroin is supplying the brain with the opiates and dopamine which is released when an individual use
Rupert Pulliam
COMP/156
August 3, 2013
Shelley Gordon
Heroin Addiction
Linda is on her way to the local pawnshop to get a loan on her son’s video game console so she can get her daily fix of heroin. Linda cannot not function because she is not feeling well; Linda is vomiting, nose running, has stomach cramps, and muscle aches. Once Linda gets the cash she needs, she is off to buy a couple of bags of heroin. Heroin, abusing the drug will change how a person’s brain and body functions. Heroin is an extremely addictive opiate; it is produced from morphine. Opium is a substance that is extracted from the seedpod of the opium poppy plant. The color of heroin can vary depending on the purity of it. The purer the heroin, the whiter it will be. The reason the color varies it is due to the impurities in the heroin National Drug Institute (2013). According to U.S. …show more content…
This initial use sets the individual up for addiction because the feeling of euphoria it produces. Overtime with continued use of heroin, the brain starts to require the extra opiates to tell the body it feels normal. When the brain does not have that extra boost of opiates, it sends the body into panic mode. This panic mode leads the individual to addiction because the brain is craving more of the extra opiates. When an individual uses heroin for years it changes how the brain works. A person who does not use heroin has a certain level of dopamine that is produced on a regular basis so one can feel normal. When an individual uses heroin everyday he or she trains their brain not to produce dopamine which is naturally produced to feel normal. The individual’s brain is not producing dopamine any longer because the heroin is supplying the brain with the opiates and dopamine which is released when an individual use