Heroin
From Drug Rehab Wiki
Heroin—also called acetomorphine, diacetylmorphine, or diamorphine—is a white, bitter, odorless, crystalline compound (C21H23NO5) that is a semi-synthetic opioid drug derived from morphine. Heroin is a powerful addictive narcotic—it is made by acetylation of morphine but is about 2.2 times more potent than morphine. Upon its discovery, heroin was medically used as an analgesic, sedative, or treatment for morphine addiction, yet became increasingly banned as its addictive qualities became apparent. Heroin’s medical use, manufacturing, and importation are prohibited in the U.S. under federal law due to its strong addictive quality. Heroin is used illicitly for its fast-acting euphoric effects.
Heroin was first synthesized from morphine by English chemist C. R. Alder Wright in 1874, when he discovered that by boiling morphine with acetic anhydride, an acetylated form of morphine—which he called diacetylmorphine—would form, which was twice as potent as morphine itself. Twenty-three years later, the pharmaceutical company Bayer re-synthesized Wright’s diacetylmorphine when they attempted to produce a similar but less addictive form of morphine. Bayer began marketing the substance in 1898 under the name heroin (derived from Greek hērō- because of the sense of power and euphoria it generates) as a non-addictive pharmaceutical remedy for morphine addiction, analgesic for multiple types of pain including “female problems,” sedative, and cough suppressant. It was also marketed as a substitute for codeine and morphine supplements. Heroin powder was mixed into liquids and replaced the need for morphine among those users (particularly women). It was also consumed in pill form or self-injected for immediate analgesic effect.
Soon after, evidence of dependency and withdrawal became widespread among U.S. and European populations, and heroin was found to be even more addictive than morphine after the discovery that the body quickly metabolizes heroin into morphine and that heroin produces the same effects as morphine in smaller doses and at a faster rate. Partially as a response, the U.S. passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, requiring pharmaceutical companies to reveal all ingredients within their patented medicines including heroin and other potent substances. Many people suffered heroin overdoses from self-administering the over-the-counter drug, and Bayer stopped marketing heroin by 1910. After decades of social reform movements against the dangers of drug addiction, Congress passed the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914 (also known as the Federal Narcotics-Internal Revenue Regulations), making opium and its derivatives controlled substances within the United States. Heroin was still being prescribed for medicinal purposes until 1924 when its preparation, distribution, and possession became illegal. Heroin became a Schedule I substance under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
Once China was forced to legalize opium domestically after the Second Opium War, the country became the biggest producer of the world’s opium and severely increased the number of addicts within and outside China. In 1887, U.S. Congress prohibited both U.S. and Chinese importation of opium and began banning opium dens. Britain similarly began restricting opium use in the 1880s and encouraged opium prohibition in China. These prohibitions caused a global demand for other substances such as cocaine, morphine, and heroin, giving rise to a black market that ran from China to the U.S. and Europe. Civil war and weaker legislation in China allowed for underground production and distribution to abound. International efforts to combat opium trafficking include the U.S.’s 1903 founding of its Opium Commission, the 1909 formation of the International Opium Commission, and the initiation of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1931. Historically, heroin has been easier to smuggle than raw opium across international boundaries, so it eventually replaced opium as the leading transitory substance.
International restrictions eventually decreased heroin trafficking in China, which led to the Italian Mafia’s rise in the global heroin market. In 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was founded and successfully reduced the number of heroin addicts within the U.S. population during the 1940s, but post-World War II anticommunist efforts caused the oversight of allowing the French seaport in Marseilles to become a major heroin distribution center for more than 25 years. In fact, under the faction of the newly founded CIA, the U.S.’s main suppliers of heroin became China, Thailand, Lebanon, Turkey, and Mexico, and heroin use once again rose during the 1950s. In 1956, the Boggs-Daniel Bill passed in Congress, imposing much harsher penalties for narcotic-related crimes. In 1960, the CIA abetted heroin distribution in Laos by training Hmong soldiers to prepare for battle against communists in the Vietnam War; in return, the CIA agreed to help the opium farming Hmongs by providing air-lifted transportation of their opium. Throughout the 1960s, direct importation of heroin from the Golden Triangle to U.S. soldiers and crime organizations gave rise to a huge influx of American heroin addicts.
The Golden Triangle remains a massive worldwide supplier of opium and its derivatives, but Afghan heroin soon began to dominate the U.S. drug consumption. During the 1970s, sales of Afghan heroin constituted 60 percent of the U.S. drug market during the Soviet-Afghan War by marketing opium in exchange for artillery. Afghanistan surpassed the Sicilian crime syndicate drug markets in the 1980s, and remains the largest provider of heroin to the U.S. today. Other major sources of heroin include Mexico, Columbia, Hungary, India, and Southeast Asian nations. As of 2006, Afghan heroin production has experienced a steep rise. International efforts have attempted to dismantle drug labs and prohibit access to acetic anhydride in Afghanistan. Opium derivatives are smuggled into Europe and the U.S., with the U.S. remaining the top market for opium consumption.
Heroin causes fatal respiratory failure if taken in large amounts, and is often the primary fatal substance in deaths that involve multiple substances. When heroin is mixed with cocaine (known as a “speedball”), respiratory depression occurs and brain reception decreases dramatically faster, which often leads to death. Famous deaths caused by heroin intoxication include actors John Belushi and River Phoenix, comedian Mitch Hedberg, and musicians Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Bradley Nowell, and Sid Vicious.
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