




Facts
Most heroin is packaged and shipped in bricks of powder. Pure heroin is white, but the color when it reaches the user can vary from yellow to dark brown, owing either to impurities during the manufacturing process, the presence of powdered additives, or both. Heroin is usually cut with baking soda, powdered milk, baby powder, sugar, starch, or quinine, but has also known to be cut with lidocaine, curry powder, strychi-nine, and even laundry detergent. Law enforcement officials in New York report the existence of heroin cut with a rat poison from Santa Domingo called Tres Pasos(meaning "three steps"). Three is the number of steps the mice take before dying after exposure to the poison. Another form of heroin commonly distributed in the western and southwestern regions of the United States is called Black Tar or Mexican Brown. These varieties are produced in Mexico and—because they're manufactured crudely—have an either hard black coal or sticky, tar-like consistency. Purity rates range from 20–80%. In 1980, the purity of heroin was somewhere in the 4% range. In 2002, the average bag sold by dealers in the United States was almost 40% pure, and sold for less than one-fifth the 1980 price. Drug treatment programs should provide assessment for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, and counseling to help patients modify or change behaviors that place them or others at risk of infection. Counseling can help patients avoid high-risk behavior and help people who are already infected manage their illness. Drugs are chemicals that tap into the brain's communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs are able to do this: by imitating the brain's natural chemical messengers, and/or by overstimulating the "reward circuit" of the brain. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are able to "fool" the brain's receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages. The pleasurable feelings from cocaine use last only 15–30 minutes if it is snorted and only five to 10 minutes if cocaine is smoked or injected into the veins. When the "high" is over, the user feels tired, sluggish, and "low." |
Residential Treatment
Residential treatment offers intensive drug addiction help over a period of weeks or months. This form of treatment has some advantages over out-patient treatment, although it may not be suitable for everyone. For example, those who are responsible for caring for young children may be better suited to attendance at an out patient treatment program. Residential treatment offers a safe, drug and alcohol-free environment where individuals can confront their own drug addiction and associated issues, with the help of qualified staff. Therapy usually consists of a mixture of group counseling, individual counseling and an introduction to the principles of a drug recovery program.
Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a pattern of repeated drug taking that usually results in tolerance (the need for greater amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect), withdrawal (physical and cognitive effects when drug use declines or stops), and compulsive drug taking behavior (drug taking that persists despite efforts to reduce intake and despite problems with family, friends, and work). Drug addiction encompasses a diverse range of drugs (such as alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, and cocaine) and is caused by many different factors.
Relapse
Relapse is a term used to describe when an individual who has quit using drugs starts using once again. A relapse can mean just a one time use, a long term continues period of using or anything in between after a period of sobriety has taken place. An individual begins to experience a psychological relapse long before their first use after
quitting. Some things that can lead to relapse both physically or psychologically include: 1. Being in the presence of drugs or alcohol, drug or alcohol users, or places where you used or bought chemicals. 2. Feelings we perceive as negative, particularly anger; also sadness, loneliness, guilt, fear, and anxiety. 3. Positive feelings that make you want to celebrate by using. 4. Listening to others past drug use stories and just dwelling on getting high. 5. Believing that you no longer have to worry (complacent). That is, that you are no longer stimulated to crave drugs/alcohol by any of the above situations or by anything else – and therefore maybe it’s safe for you to use occasionally.
Tolerance
Tolerance to a drug takes place when an individual is exposed to the same drug repeatedly and begins to build up an resistance to the drugs effects. The body then adapts and develops a tolerance for the drug. The addiction that is produced is so powerful that it creates cravings in the user. These cravings for the drug are the result of its impact on the individual's memory with feelings of pleasantness and euphoria which the individual has come to associate with the taking of the drug.
Abstinence
Abstinence is the act or practice of refraining from indulging a desire. The type of abstinence we are referring to here is abstinence from drugs and alcohol. This term has two connotations when it comes to abstaining from drugs. The first refers to drug or alcohol treatment programs that aim to help an individual stop using drugs or alcohol for the rest of their lives. The time abstinence is also used in drug education and prevention. It refers to trying to stop children from ever using drugs.
|
|

To Find Drug Rehab and Treatment Centers in Ladd
Call toll free


Ladd Drug Rehab and
Alcohol Addiction Treatment Information
|