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THE HISTORY OF OPIATES
The details of the history of drug addiction in America can be assumed to have been part of the original colonies since narcotic (opiate) medications were common in London and were exported to our original settlers. Whether or not the health of any of our ancestors were compromised by opiate addiction isn’t totally revealed in our history, but given the ease with which one can become addicted to opiates through only casual use, and the ready availability of opiate concoctions (such as laudanum), one can assume that addiction arrived in America with the first comers.
We can document drug use back to the 1700’s when over-the-counter, patent medications were introduced for sale to the public. According to James A. Inciardi in his book Handbook of Drug Control In the United States, opium was the most common ingredient in these medicines, marketed to soothe the pain from ailments such as diarrhea, colds, fever, tooth aches, cholera, rheumatism, pelvic disorders and even athlete’s foot and baldness. These remedies were advertised as “painkillers,” “cough mixtures,” “women’s friends,” and other such enticing labels.
Dr. William Buchan’s Domestic Medicine, first published in Philadelphia in 1784 as a practical handbook on simple medicines for home use, recommended the tincture of opium (paragoric) for the treatment of common ailments. Dr. Buchan gave the readers a recipe to make their own tincture of opium to keep around the house to address common medical problems and other discomforts.
The shipping of medicines from London ended with the Revolutionary War. The American manufacturers of medicines were the first business entrepreneurs to seek national markets through widespread advertising. These medicines could be purchased in modest quantities from physicians, apothecaries, grocers, postmasters, and printers. One can find advertisements for these elixirs in every form of printed news and entertainment publications.
It is easy to see how quickly these “medications’ grew from the following accounts: A New York catalog listed some ninety brands of elixirs in 1804 and by 1857; a Boston periodical included almost 600 and in 1858; and one newspaper account totaled over 1,500 patent medicines. By 1905 the list grew to more than 28,000. One can assume that these “remedies” were used at a level bound to have been leading to some opiate addiction in America. One must remember that in these times there were no government regulations on any of these addictive opiate concoctions1.
In 1803, a German pharmacist isolated the chief alkaloid of opium, which was basically morphine, named after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Around the same time, the hypodermic needle was invented, and by the time of the Civil War morphine was injected as a potent painkiller. Many German chemists played with the alkaloids of opium to create more and more potent opiate painkillers. Friedrich Bayer, of the famous Bayer Aspirin, invented diacetylmorphine in 1898, to treat pneumonia and tuberculosis and named it Heroin, from the German “heroisch” meaning heroic and powerful. Even though Bayer’s Heroin was promoted as a sedative for coughs and as a chest and lung medicine, it was advocated by some as a treatment for morphine addiction, since heroin was introduced as being non-addicting, and there we have the origin of “non-addictive” drugs being originally recommended to treat addiction with the subsequent paradox of creating many more addicts as a result. We also find our first literature regarding the need for a treatment for drug addiction.
The availability of immediate pain relief was becoming part of the American culture. In 1900 it was estimated that the small state of Vermont sold 3.3 million doses of opium a month. These were the times of the “snake oil” salesman. They were the first hucksters to use psychological lures to entice customers to buy their merchandise. The drug advertisements on television today assure us that the hucksters are still content with this effective level of marketing.
FACTS ABOUT HEROIN
Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder. Street names for heroin include "smack," "H," "skag," and "junk." Other names may refer to types of heroin produced in a specific geographical area, such as "Mexican black tar."
Heroin abuse and addiction has been an addiction problem for hundreds of years, but with the mixing of fentanyl (a substance that is reported to be 1,000 times the strength of morphine), heroin is now more dangerous than it has been before. Overdoses as related to the number of heroin users, is at an all time high. Heroin has also become more affordable to college students and others that aren't forced to steal to keep up with their heroin addiction. Purer heroin can be smoked or snorted while less pure heroin must be injected intravenously. Many high school and college age youth are feeling safe snorting heroin, but are claiming that they would never use needles. Facts have been distorted to help them think that they won't acquire an addiction to heroin without injecting the drug, but they soon find that to be far from the truth.
About eight years ago a new drug, buprenorphine, was introduced to those who are trying to "kick" a heroin or opiate habit and find the withdrawals too painful to endure or they find the cravings after withdrawal too compelling to stay off of opiates. Buprenorphine has been used for pain in most European for many years, but the methadone industry successfully kept it from being sold in American. After much evidence showed that it was a much better substitute for heroin and other opiates and that the withdrawal from buprenorphine was relatively easy for some to step-down their dosage, it was allowed to be given by physicians in the U.S. However, due to pressure from the methadone industry, a physician must take a small educational course before he is given the certification to write buprenorphine prescriptions and, the real limiting factor being that any physician so certified can only have up to 30 patients at any given time.
Heroin addiction falls under the heading of opiate addiction, which is the second leading
addiction in our society; following alcohol addiction. Heroin is noted for having the highest
euphoria potential of all opiates and is, therefore, prone to cause psychological addiction
even if the user were to not become physically addicted. Addiction is defined as a state of
physiological or psychological dependence on a drug liable to have a damaging effect.
The withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin addiction are usually experienced shortly
before the time of the next scheduled dose, meaning at the time that the last dose has been
metabolized and is no longer binding to the pleasure receptor sites in the brain. Early
symptoms include watery eyes, runny nose, yawning, and sweating. Restlessness, irritability,
loss of appetite, nausea, tremors, and the craving for heroin appear as the syndrome progresses
and soon occupies the entire attention of the withdrawing person. Severe depression and vomiting
are common. The heart rate and blood pressure are elevated. Chills alternating with flushing
and excessive sweating are also characteristic symptoms. Pains in the bones and muscles of the
back and extremities occur, as do muscle spasms. At any point during this process, a suitable
narcotic can be administered that will dramatically reverse the withdrawal symptoms. Without
some type of intervention, the syndrome will run its course, and most of the overt physical
symptoms will disappear within 7 to 10 days. If you picture being very sick at your stomach
and experience the symptoms of the most severe flu you could imagine, and knowing that if
you have one dose of heroin, all of these symptoms will disappear and you will feel absolutely
normal again, then you can understand how people that suffer from heroin addiction can do
many things that would violate their values in order to secure that next fix.
The psychological dependence associated with narcotic addiction is complex and protracted.
Long after the physical need for the drug has passed, the addict may continue to think and talk
about the use of drugs and feel strange or overwhelmed coping with daily activities without
being under the influence of drugs. This does not necessary have to be the case if someone that
has been suffering from heroin addiction were to find a reliable treatment setting where the
entire addiction is confronted and handled. These heroin drug rehabilitation programs employ
the bio-physical model of treatment which takes into account the drugs that are stored in the
fat tissues of the body and cause the user to crave the drug for months and years after use
has been stopped. Without using this approach there is a high probability that relapse will
occur after narcotic withdrawal when neither the physical environment nor the behavioral
motivators that contributed to the abuse have been altered.
Seek programs that have documented success and utilize a bio-physical approach and you
will have a life free of craving heroin and free of the depressing mental effects of having
this drug in your body.
FACTS ABOUT HEROIN IN TEXAS
Over time, the purity of Mexican heroin in Texas has increased and the price has decreased. Statewide price ranges for black tar heroin are $10-$20/capsule, $100-$300/gram, $1,000-$4,500/ounce and $25,000-$40,000/kilogram. Mexican brown heroin sells for $10/cap and $80-$150/gram.
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