Description
How the drug works varies from person to person
How does it make you feel?
Heroin is a very strong drug and the first dose of heroin can cause dizziness and vomiting.
People take heroin to feel:
- happy
- relaxed
- euphoric
- sleepy
How does it make people behave?
Heroin can make people seem happy, relaxed, euphoric and sleepy.
How long it takes to work?
How long the effects last and the drug stays in your system depends on how much you’ve taken, your size and what other drugs you may have also taken.
To kick in:
When smoked, the effects of heroin usually kick in within a few minutes.
How long it lasts:
The effects can last for around an hour.
After effects:
The after effects of smoking heroin can last for several hours, so it’s important to be careful if you are using any other drugs or alcohol in that time.
How long will it be detectable?
Heroin will typically show up in a urine sample for 2 to 3 days.
How long a drug can be detected for depends on how much is taken and which testing kit is used. This is only a general guide.
How does it make you feel?
Heroin is a very strong drug and the first dose of heroin can cause dizziness and vomiting.
People take heroin to feel:
- happy
- relaxed
- euphoric
- sleepy
How does it make people behave?
Heroin can make people seem happy, relaxed, euphoric and sleepy.
Physical health risks
- It’s very easy to overdose from heroin, which kills far more people in the UK than any other illegal drug.
- If you overdose you may begin to feel very sleepy. Your breathing will slow and you can fall into a coma. If your breathing slows too much you could die.
- If you have been taking heroin regularly you may have built up some tolerance. However, if you then stop taking heroin for just for a few days, your tolerance will rapidly drop and you risk an overdose if you simply take the same dose you previously took.
- Injecting heroin is very dangerous. It’s easier to overdose from injecting than from other ways of taking the drug. You also risk damaging veins and developing infections and blood clots. Sharing needles and syringes is also very dangerous as you run the risk of catching or spreading a virus, such as HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
- If heroin is taken with other drugs, particularly other sedative drugs such as alcohol, then overdose is more likely. Other sedating drugs – such as benzodiazepine tranquillisers or methadone – are also linked with deaths from heroin overdose.
- There’s also a risk of death due to inhaling vomit. Heroin sedates you and stops you from properly coughing. If you vomit you won’t be able to cough and clear your throat. The vomit can then block your breathing.
- Injecting heroin can do nasty damage to your veins and arteries, and has been known to lead to gangrene (death of body tissue, usually a finger, toe or a limb) and to infections.
What is heroin cut with?
Heroin is often cut with other things, for example highly-potent opioids (like fentanyls) which are even more dangerous than heroin itself.
Other substances including sedatives like benzodiazepines and barbiturates can also be added to heroin.
It’s common for heroin to be mixed with a variety of other substances, such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, quinine or paracetamol – as these increase the weight and the drug dealer’s profits.
Is it dangerous to mix with other drugs?
Mixing drugs is always risky but some mixtures are more dangerous than others.
What happens if I mix Heroin and
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