Heroin

Heroin
Out of the seven facts from the article Heroin was the most eye catching to me. Heroin has many others the street names/slang terms they are: Big H, Blacktar, Brown sugar, Dope, Horse, Junk, Mud, Skag, and Smack. Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained from the opium poppy. It is a "downer" or depressant that affects the brain's pleasure systems and interferes with the brain's ability to perceive pain. Heroin affects your brain, also the neurotransmitter Dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone and neurotransmitter. In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five types of dopamine receptor and their variants. Dopamine is produced in several areas of the brain, including the substantia nigra. Dopamine is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus. A reduction in its concentration within the brain is associated with Parkinson's disease. Heroin enters the brain quickly. It slows down the way you think, slows down reaction time, and slows down memory. This affects the way you act and make decisions. The effects of heroin abuse appear soon after a single dose and disappear in a few hours. After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of rush accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. Following this initial rush, the user goes into an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. Other effects included slowed and slurred speech, slow gait, constricted pupils, droopy eyelids, impaired night vision, vomiting, and constipation. Heroin can be used in a variety of ways, depending on user preference and the purity of the drug. Heroin can be injected into a vein, injected into a muscle, smoked in a water pipe or standard pipe, mixed in a marijuana joint or regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw. Heroin is highly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. It...