Heroin or diacetylmorphine, C21H23NO5
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is a white crystalline alkaloid opiate, prepared from morphine by acetylation.
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It was invented in 1895 by Heinrich Dreser, working for the Bayer Company of Elberfeld, Germany, developed as a drug without the common morphine side effects. Bayer promptly began production of diacetylmorphine under the trademark "heroin" and sold it as cough medicine.
As a medicine, heroin is administered usually in the form of its hydrochloride as a hypnotic and analgesic.
It is also illictly used as a powerful and addictive drug producing intense euphoric sensations. It is highly addictive.
Methadone is another drug often used to substitute for heroin in treatment for heroin addiction.
Short and Long Term Effects of Heroin include:
- mental confusion
- euphoria
- slow and shallow respiration
- nausea and vomiting
- spontaneous abortion
Withdrawal symptoms
The withdrawal syndrome from heroin begins within 12 hours of discontinuation of the drug: sweating, malaise, anxiety, depression, general feeling of heaviness, cramp-like pains in the limbs, yawning and lacrimation, sleep difficulties, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, cramps and fever occur.
see also recreational drug use