Teens Under the Influence by Katherine Ketcham

Author:Katherine Ketcham [Ketcham, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-49171-8
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Death by overdose on heroin is an ever-present possibility for both onetime users and heroin addicts. Heroin and other opiate drugs suppress breathing; within minutes of using, users may become so sedated that they simply stop breathing and slip into a coma.

Symptoms of a heroin overdose include shallow breathing, pinpoint pupils, clammy skin, convulsions, and coma. The latest data on drug-related hospital emergency department visits indicate that heroin/morphine visits increased 15 percent from 1999 to 2000.

The ever-present danger of overdose is compounded by the increasing purity of the drug in recent years. Casual users and addicts can accidentally overdose because they have taken a higher dose of the drug than expected. And since heroin purity varies so dramatically—ranging from 7 to 95 percent—users never know exactly how much heroin they are actually ingesting.

Users and addicts can also die from complications caused by the adulterants (lactose, powdered milk, baking soda, coffee creamer, quinine, sugar, cocaine, rat poison) used to dilute heroin. Additives may not dissolve in the bloodstream and can clog the blood vessels leading to the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, or heart, and/or lead to life-threatening infections.

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