Heroin
Street terms for heroin: smack, thunder, hell dust, big H, nose drops
 What does heroin look like?
- Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste.
- Most illicit heroin varies in color from white to dark brown.
- "Black tar" heroin is sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, and its color may vary from dark brown to black.
How is heroin used?
- Injecting
- Smoking
- Snorting
Who uses heroin?
- In the United States in 1999 there were 104,000 new heroin users.
- In 2000, approximately 1.2% of the population reported heroin use at least once in their lifetime.
How does heroin get to the United States?
- The U.S. heroin market is supplied entirely from foreign sources of opium.
- Production occurs in South America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia.
How much does heroin cost?
- Nationwide, in 2000, South American heroin ranged from $50,000 to $200,000 per kilogram. Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin ranged in price from $40,000 to $190,000 per kilogram. Wholesale-level prices for Mexican heroin were the lowest of any type, ranging from $13,200 to $175,000 per kilogram. The wide range in kilogram prices reflects variables such as buyer/seller relationships, quantities purchased, purchase frequencies, purity, and transportation costs.
What are some consequences of heroin use?
- One of the most significant effects of heroin use is addiction. Once tolerance happens, higher does become necessary to achieve the desired effect, and physical dependence develops.
- Chronic use may cause collapsed veins, infection of heart lining and valves, abscesses, liver disease, pulmonary complications, and various types of pneumonia.
- May cause depression of central nervous system, cloudy mental functioning, and slowed breathing to the point of respiratory failure.
- Heroin overdose may cause slow and shallow breathing, convulsions, coma, and possibly death.
- Users put themselves at risk for contracting HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other viruses.
1 Office of National Drug Control Policy, Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade .
2 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse , September 2001.
3 Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Trafficking in the United States , September 2001.
4 Ibid.
5 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Infofax: Heroin , 2000.
6 Ibid.
7 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Research Report: Heroin Abuse and Addiction , 1999.
8 Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Descriptions: Heroin .
9 Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Facts: Heroin .
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