Introduction:
It is common knowledge that drugs are dangerous for human health. However, still, the consequences of drug intake on the brain have remained unseen until recently. Scans of the brain of drug users have shown how much damage it causes to the brain and how exactly drugs mutilate our minds. From the highest point of ecstasy to the deepest hell, the ride that ends in the form of brain damage for the rest of the life of drug users happens in a flash. It is what common drugs can do to the lives of its users. Even after the user has stopped taking drugs, the damage does not abstain. The delicate tissues of the brain of the drug user may have scorched and changed the user into a monster who is now capable of the most horrifying violent acts. Or else, the drug user would be experiencing depression from which nothing can save them.
It also does not matter that the drug has been taken only once in life, or else the drug taken is of different quality. Drug users need to understand that they are playing with fire. This stuff is going to hit the mind with the lightning bolt force. These side effects are witnessed and explained by psychiatrists, chemical scientists and hardened police officers. And these side effects are happening to youngsters in college and universities who want to have fun or the elder ones who should know better.
Furthermore, modern drugs have become so much more dangerous and powerful as compared to the old ones. It is more intense taking the drug user to the peaks of ecstasy, energy, and euphoria, and then also dropping to deeper depths of depression and despair. Until recently, no one knew the gravity of the devastation this chemical violence prevailed on the brains of the drug users. However, research and science are opening the eyes of everyone.
Many local drugs more specifically the ones that are manufactured in the warehouse or kitchen has added gravity of danger. Even though the street drugs are always added with the addictive heroin to make the drug user dependent on it, there are also sold sometimes in very highly concentrated form which is more than 1500 times more powerful as compared to the dose that can be safely handled by the human body. Furthermore, street drugs also may contain impurities which can be harmful as well. Like the impurity of mandrax tablets can cause cancer in the lungs of the drug user.
Common Side Effects of Drugs:
With the intake of these drugs, the user experience levels of hyperactivity, heightened awareness, euphoria, self-confidence, and boundless energy for a period. The length of this period depends on the type of drug that has been used. Followed by this, the users experience tremors, headache, insomnia, apprehension, teeth grinding, extreme paranoia, compulsive acts of finger tapping or scratching, extreme anxiety, aggression, and irrational ideas. An overdose could lead to a panic attack, seizure, stroke, cardiac arrest, breathing difficulty or else death as well (Health.Com, 2013).
This report will now consider the side effects of the two drugs that are most commonly in extensive detail. Cocaine and heroin are the most commonly used drugs. Looking at its side effects would yield information on the common effects that drugs cause in the drug users.
Crack Heroin:
Heroin after getting into the brain converts into morphine and rapidly combines with the opioid receptors. The people using heroin report the feeling of a rush as one of the pleasurable sensations. The more concentrated the drug is, or the drug users take the more quantity of drug defines the level of intensity for the rush feeling that one would experience. The intensity of the rush depends on the way through which the drug is taken, so that how much rapidly it enters the brain and combines with the opioid receptors.
With the use of heroin, the rush feeling is accompanied by the feeling of dry mouth, a warm flushing of the color of skin, and the heavy feeling in the extremities. Other than this, the user may also experience severe itching, vomiting, and nausea. After the initial excitement of rush feeling, the user would feel drowsy and sleepy for several hours. The functions of the body are slower, the mind is clouded, breathing is slowed, and the heart also functions slower. It can be as threatening as causing a life-or-death situation. Furthermore, slowed breathing can cause permanent damage to the brain and may lead to coma( Drugabuse.Com, 2018).
Opioids act on various places in the nervous system and the brain. Opioids can damage the message system which is transmitted through the spinal cord. It can block the messages of pain from the body that have to be transmitted through the spinal cord to the brain. Furthermore, opioids can also reinforce the behavior of the user of heroin to take more drugs by changing the activity in a limbic system that also controls the emotional system of the body. Moreover, it can also lower the breathing rate by altering the neurochemical activity in the stem of the brain. It is the place where the functions of the body which are automatic such as the heart rate and breathing are controlled.
Origin of Heroin:
The heroin is a flower, or more specifically it comes from a flower which is opium poppy that is grown in the Asian, Mexican, and South American regions. It is illegal in the United States since 1924 as it is highly addictive. Physically, it looks like black tar, brown or white powder. The common names used for this drug include junk, smack, horse, and brown sugar.
It is for sure that whatever medium is used for the intake of heroin it hits the brain directly and immediately. It is quite easy to become addictive, and it can be very difficult to stop its intake even after using it one to two times. There are many ways of using it. One can snort or smoke it; however some users inject it into their veins to feel the highest rush feeling which is also one of the most dangerous ways as it can lead to overdose and can cause infection from the use of the non-sanitized dirty needles.
Initial Effects of Heroin:
After having little moments of hyperactivity, happiness, and pleasure, the drug leads to slowed functions of the body and its organs. The study of suburban users of heroin has explained the feeling as being covered in a warm blanket in which the person feels to have all his worries gone. The drug has caused the patients to vomit and feel nausea. Itching is another side effect which is reported by the users of heroin as well.
It can also make the heroin users pain messages to be blocked to get to the brain causing slowed breathing and heart rate. The overdose of the drug can cause breathing to stop as well becoming the reason for death. There are also persons who consider the use of heroin for reducing their worries, anxiety, and other stresses. A study showed that over 75% of heroin users had had issues of depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.
The consumption of heroin has nearly doubled during the period between 2007 and 2012. It is because of the reasons that the growing abuse of the prescribed painkillers like the Vicodin and OxyContin is also originated from the poppy plant. People who have misused these drugs would be looking for the cheaper and stronger feeling of rush. However, the heroin is both. Moreover, this is more dangerous as well. It is also difficult to understand what and how much more the drug user is consuming and what is mixed in it.
Combination of Heroin with other Drugs:
Sometimes it is also equipped with other drugs as well. It has led to a doubled increment to the deaths caused by heroin between the years 2010 and 2012. The hike in the deaths in 2014 is linked with the overdose of heroin which was equipped with the painkiller fentanyl. Even though heroin is illegal, it is easier to come by the heroin as compared to some of the prescription painkillers. To follow the growing demand of the heroin, drug traffickers have also increased its production and have increased the smuggled amount of drug transported into the US.
The effects of the intake of heroin have shown that body builds some level of tolerance towards it. However, this certainly does not mean that the body protects you completely from it and the drug cannot harm you. On the contrary, it means that the body needs more and more drug to get to that same level of high rush that one has experienced earlier causing an increase in the dose of the drugs. It further led the person to be more dependent on the drugs as well. The attempts of quitting on drugs would lead the user of the drug to feel chills, jittery, muscle pain, bone pain, vomits and other various withdrawal symptoms (WebMD, 2018).
Heroin effect on Brain:
The heroin is reported to the producer to have the effect of downer, which induces euphoria and relaxation state that is also related to the chemical alteration in the centers of pleasures in the brain. Similarly, like Opiates, the use of heroin blocks the ability of the brain to get the messages of pain from the body causing a feeling of relaxation. The abusers of the heroin drug, especially the ones who have the history of having and feeling the drug abuse can be able to hide the symptoms and signs of the use of heroin.
However, the linked and related persons with the abuser of the heroin may witness some signs which can lead them to know the use of heroin by their loved one. During the consumption of heroin, many signs are quite visible. These include dryness in the mouth, the constricted pupil, the immediate changes in the actions and behavior of the users, the shortness in breath of the use of heroin, the cycles of hyper-activeness which is then followed by drowsiness and lack of attention, the droopy appearance of the person if the extremities are very high and also of disorientation.
However, these are not the signs which are unique to the users of heroin. The signs mentioned above can be warnings for the use of mild or high level of drugs which can be of any kind. More specific warning of the use and consumption of heroin drug include the possession of the paraphernalia which is required to prepare and also inject the heroin for its consumption. These include the missing shoelaces, the use of pipes or water pipes, straw and burn marks on straws, burn marks on the gum on wrappers, aluminum foil with burn marks, burned spoons of silver, syringes and needles which are not utilized for the use of medical reasons, plastic bags having powder which is white.
Behavioral Symptoms of Heroin User:
The behavioral symptoms of the consumption of the heroin include the lying and deception use for getting their means, the incoherent speech, words are slurred and garbled, performance is worsened, can cause loss of job or school expulsion, losing motivation in goals for the future, lack of interest in any relationships, friends, and family, sleeping time is substantially increased, eye contact is mostly avoided, no interest in hobbies is shown. Other than these, the users of heroin can also show the behaviors of declining self-esteem, their body image is declining; they steal or borrow money for unexplained reasons. They can also be witnessed as warning long pants and sleeves for more than usual time.
Addiction and Symptoms of Heroin User:
It has been discussed that the user of the heroin body becomes tolerant of the drug which causes the user to intake more drug to get to the same level of high rush feeling. It leads to increasing dosage of the drug causing lowered and a declining immune system, and high addiction to the drug. More specific symptoms and side effects of the heroin user in physical terms include a runny nose, its continuous weight loss, the marks of needles in the legs and arms, loss of menstrual cycles for the women, scales, bruises, and cuts can be seen on the skin due to itching, infections and abscesses can be seen as well on the site of the injections.
Short-Term Side Effects:
The side effects of the consumption of the heroin drug and the level of its addiction vary for the users and the progress of the disease. There are many chemical dependencies which can cause the identification of the side effects to be difficult. Having described it sometimes, the first feeling is that of ecstasy, or pleasure, which then leads to drying mouth, and heavy feeling in the extremities. This rush feeling is followed by severe itching, nausea, or vomit for some users. The short-term physical side effects of the heroin drugs consumption include depressed respiration, declined pain from emotional or physical conditions and challenges, clouded functioning of the brain, uncontrollable itching, which can be seen in the form of picking at the skin and by compulsive scratching by the user.
Further, from these short-term physical side effects of the consumption of heroin drug, it also causes dependency which can lead to the medical side effects of serious nature becoming the direct or indirect reason of the death of the heroin consumed. The medical ramifications would include heart problems, infectious diseases, chronic pneumonia, pulmonary disease, liver diseases, seizures, infections caused by needles like hepatitis C and B or HIV AIDS, infection of the valves and the lining of the heart, arthritis, and bacterial infections. It can also cause other rheumatologic problems as well to the heroin user.
Because of the reason that the user of the heroin does not necessarily know the strength or concentration of the heroin drug it can be very risky for the user to take a higher dose which can lead to death. It has been shown in studies that after the continual use of heroin for five years, the consumer of the heroin drug is at a 90% chance of having the concentrated disease of hepatitis C. Furthermore, the person who is using needles for injection of the heroin into his or her blood is exposed to the high risk of the HIV transmission and many other diseases caused by the sharing of non-sterile injections and needles.
Knowing what causes the dependency on heroin is another subject which can help aid in the reduction in dependency and consequently in the usage and reduction of the side effects of heroin. Injecting, smoking and the snorting of the heroin cause the heroin to enter directly into the brain within the next ten to fifteen minutes, the inhalation or injection of heroin leads to the crossing of the heroin of the blood-brain-barrier when it converts into morphine and combines with the opioid receptors of the brain. It is important to discuss the side effects of the heroin withdrawal as well here. It includes profuse sweating, nausea, and vomiting, cold sweats, runny nose, fever, diarrhea, chills, insomnia; severe pain in bones and muscles, intense cravings for the heroin drug, crying, etc. (Timber Knolls, 2018).
Long-Term Effects:
Long-term effects of the consumption of heroin drug include the weakening of the immune system, menstrual cycle disturbance, coma, cold sweats, inflammation of the gums, bad teeth, itching, breathing problems, reduction in long-term impotence in men, reduction in sexual capability, depression, loss of appetite, introversion, loss of memory, loss of intellectual performance, and pustules on the face of the user (Drug Free World.Org, 2018).
Cocaine:
Cocaine is the stimulant drug which is a very powerful addictive drug as well. For almost last thousands of years, the South American people have been chewing in and ingesting the leaves of coca which is also the source of the cocaine for the stimulant effects of the cocaine. The cocaine hydrochloride, the purified chemical, was isolated from the plant more than 100 years ago.
From the 1900s purified cocaine is the main ingredient which is used in elixirs, and tonics for the development of the treatment of illnesses and was even one of the ingredients in the formulation of the early Coca-Cola. The development of the local synthetic anesthetic caused the surgeons to use cocaine as blocking of pain. However, since it has been shown in the research that the use of cocaine can significantly alter the functions in the brain and its structure as well, its use has been handled with caution.
In today’s world the drug of cocaine is considered as one of the Schedule II drug that shows that cocaine has the potential to be harmful, and thus it can only be administered by doctors in very highly legitimate cases of medical health only like if the operation for eye, ear or throat is to be done then it can be used as anesthesia. As a drug of the street, cocaine is white, fine and crystalline. It is also known by the names of Blow, Powder, and snow, coke, and C.
The dealers of drugs on the street often dilute its concentration with other substances like talcum, cornstarch, baking soda, and flour to make it less harmful. The cocaine is also added to other drugs like amphetamine and procaine which are both stimulants and anesthetic chemicals. Some of the dealers also combine it with the heroin drug to make it higher and more harmful which is also known by the name of speedball.
Consumption Methods:
People consume cocaine in two forms. One if the form in which it is water soluble hydrochloric salt and the other is the water-insoluble cocaine base which also known as the free base. The users of cocaine consume it by snorting or by injecting it in their body while the hydrochloride salt in inhaled or injected in powder form. The base is created from baking soda, or ammonia bicarbonate and water. The crack term is the street name for cocaine and refers to the sound of crackling which is heard went the mixture of cocaine is smoked (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2016).
How Cocaine Impacts Brain:
Usually, cocaine increases the natural chemical messenger levels in brain circuits. Dopamine is in charge of the control of movement and system of reward. The dopamine usually recycles back to the cell which released it shutting down the nerve cell signals. Cocaine here acts as a barrier and prevents dopamine to be recycled and causes the high amount of buildup in the area between the nerve cells altering the communication process. This flood in the brain of dopamine in the segment of the reward system of the brain forces the addiction and drug intake behavior as the brain circuit adapts to the flood level of dopamine that has been caused by cocaine and thus becomes insensitive to it. It results in people to take the higher dose of cocaine for their second time as compared to the last one because the brain has become accustomed to the previous dose and thus do not get into the high rush feeling easy while more doses taken frequently by user’s cause’s addiction in the user for cocaine drug.
Short-term Effects:
The short-term effects of cocaine to the body of the consumer of cocaine show side effects of mental alertness, paranoia, irritability, extreme happiness, hyperactivity, extreme distrust of people and hypersensitivity to touch, sound, and light. Some people think that cocaine aids in performing simple mental and physical tasks quickly while others feel the opposite. The largest dose of the cocaine drug consumed by the user of cocaine can cause violent behavior, bizarre and unpredictability in the user behavior.
The effects of cocaine appear very soon, and it immediately disappears as well. The intensity and period of their effects depend on their take in a method. Smoking and injecting cocaine are almost quicker and more intense in response than snorting. However, it is shorter in length through injecting and smoking as compared to snorting. Through snorting the high rush, the feeling can last for about 15 to 30 minutes while from smoking it could last not more than 5 to 10 minutes.
Other serious health effects on the body of the consumer of cocaine include nausea, tremors, restlessness, dilated pupils, fast and inconsistent heartbeat, constricted blood vessels, and raised blood pressure and body temperature.
Long-term Side Effects:
The long-term side effects of cocaine depending on the method of the intake of cocaine and the dose of cocaine can induce the following. The snorting of the cocaine can cause a nosebleed, problems with swallowing, loss of smell, and frequently runny nose. The use of smoking as the method of taking in cocaine causes asthma, cough, higher infections risk, respiratory and lung distress, pneumonia. The use of needle injection for the consuming of the cocaine can cause a high risk for the contracting of hepatitis’s C and HIV AIDS, skin and other infections of soft tissues, blood-borne diseases, collapsed veins, and scarring. Using cocaine through the mouth can cause serious problems of the bowel with declining blood flow.
Other long-term side effects of the consumption of cocaine show malnutrition, less appetite for food, Parkinson’s disease, movement disorders, restlessness and irritability from the use of the cocaine binges, severe paranoia, and auditory hallucinations.
Cocaine, HIV and Hepatitis C:
It is true that people who are not using any needle method for consuming cocaine are also at a higher risk level of HIV as the cocaine affects brain judgment causing risky sexual behavior with partners who are infected with HIV. Studies showed that the use of cocaine has sped up the infection of HIV. As per the conducted research, cocaine helps in the impairment of the cellular functions of the immune system and also causing the promotion of the virus of HIV. It has also shown that the people consuming cocaine as drug who are also infected with HIV can be at high risk for contracting various other viruses like that of the liver or hepatitis C.
Over dosage of Cocaine:
A person can overdose from cocaine. This over dosage occurs when the person is using a large amount of drug for producing a consistent high rush feeling consequently having serious side effects which can be life-threatening as well. An overdose need not be intentional, and it can be intentional as well. Death may occur from cocaine for the first-time users or unexpectedly after using the cocaine. The combination of alcohol and cocaine can put the user at high risk of overdose. Other mixtures of cocaine with heroin can be quite deadly and dangerous. Overdosing causes health side effects as well includes heart attacks, seizures, strokes, and inconsistent rhythm of heartbeats. Other side effects of the overdose consumption of cocaine include high blood pressure, extreme anxiety, hallucinations, high body temperature, difficulty breathing and extreme agitation.
Addiction to Cocaine:
As with all the other drugs used the continual use of the cocaine may cause long-term changes in the reward circuit of the brain and also in other systems of the brain as well consequently causing the brain to adapt to the changes in the systems and leading to addiction. The system of reward as explained earlier becomes adoptive of the high level of dopamine in the nerve cell space and thus becomes insensitive to it. The resulting outcome is that people take strong, intense and high dosages of cocaine to get to the same high feeling of rush causing the addiction to start. The withdrawal of cocaine by the cocaine user also witnesses side effects which can include, increased appetite, fatigue, depression, and slowed thinking process, insomnia, and unpleasant dreams.
World Drug Report 2016:
The world drug report of 2016 shows that the global cultivation of cocaine increased by 10% in 2014 as compared to 2013 in an area of 132,300 ha. The global seizures that have been conducted included about 655 tons of cocaine. The global production of pure cocaine has inclined by 38% to 746-943 tons. The number of consumers of cocaine drugs in the world is estimated to be 18.3 million in 2014 (UNODC.Org, 2017).
Studies Showing Side Effects of Heroin and Cocaine:
Drug addictions, whether cocaine or heroin or any other drug cause severe damage to the human body as its side effects. The studies conducted on the major consequences of the consumption of these drugs have been summarized. A study showed that the neural processes and brain regions which underline the addiction overlap majorly with the functions which support the cognitive abilities like reasoning, memory, and learning. Therefore, the activity of the drug in this region causes strong maladaptive associations among the environmental stimulus and drug use, which can show the drug-seeking behavior and the future cravings (Gould, 2010).
Another study linked with the neurological problems leading to the use of recreational substances like drugs showed that it is difficult sometimes to attribute a clinical syndrome to a specific drug. However, it has been found that 70% of the strokes were caused by the hemorrhage and not by infarction. The cocaine users have evidence of prolongation in action. Cocaine and the metabolic have effects on cerebral arteries. Heroin patients are found to have meningitis, septic arthritis, cerebral abscess, HIV infection, osteomyelitis, and mycotic aneurysm (Envoldson, 2004).
Another study has shown that functional imaging of addiction as followed by protracted abstinence has not been systematically conducted to be considered as associated for the severity of consumption of various drugs and the brain dysfunctions. The study conducted to examine the association between the severity of the use of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol, and the resting state brain metabolism. The results of the study showed that a significant negative correlation was found between the subjects. It showed that the duration of using drugs negatively correlates with the overlapping regions in the DLPFC while the severity of cocaine and heroin impact on various brain regions (Moreno-López, et al., 2012).
Another study showed that the renal diseases in the users of heroin and cocaine are associated with rhabdomyolysis, amyloidosis, nephrotic syndrome, interstitial nephritis, and acute glomerulonephritis. Heroin, being the most abused drug in the US, has shown previous trends of renal diseases in its users. It showed that although there is less evidence of supporting the fact that nephropathy for heroin-related, the study conducted in vitro cellular and on animals shows strong support for the cocaine-induced renal diseases (Kimmel & Jaffe, 2006).
Another study has shown that in controlled users of heroin the consumption of heroin is induced by the rewarding memories of its consumption, while independent users of heroin the motivation ins induced by the negative consequences of the withdrawal (Lenoir & Keiflin, 2006). Another study examining the impact of heroin and cocaine on the placental transfer of methadone showed a combination of both drugs along with methadone increases the antipyrine permeability (Malek, Obrist, Wenzinger, & Mandach, 2009).
Conclusion:
The report shows how the consumption of heroin and cocaine can cause severe and minor side effects in the human body, even some leading to life-threatening issues. The severity of side effects depends on the dosage and on the method of taking the drug as well. Whatever the drug, it is evident that it is not a pleasant experience after some time, and the motivation of consumption of heroin and cocaine independent users is mostly because of the negative experience of withdrawal.
References:
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Drug Free World.Org. (2018). Long-Term Effects Of Heroin. Retrieved from https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/heroin/long-term-effects.html
Envoldson, T. (2004). Recreational drugs and their neurological consequences. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, 75(3), 9-15.
Gould, T. J. (2010). Addiction and Cognition. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, 5(2), 4-14.
Health.Com. (2013, November 25). 9 most common street drugs. Retrieved from https://www.health24.com/Mental-Health/Alcohol/Drugs-special-report-20120721
Kimmel, P. L., & Jaffe, J. A. (2006). Chronic Nephropathies of Cocaine and Heroin Abuse: A Critical Review. Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology, 1(4), 655-667.
Lenoir, M., & Keiflin, R. (2006). Heroin Addiction: Anticipating the Reward of Heroin or the Agony of Withdrawal? Journal of Neuroscience, 26(36), 9080-9081.
Malek, A., Obrist, C., Wenzinger, S., & Mandach, U. v. (2009). The impact of cocaine and heroin on the placental transfer of methadone. Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, 7(1), 1-9.
Moreno-López, L., Stamatakis, E. A., Fernández-Serrano, M. J., Gómez-Río, M., Rodríguez-Fernández, A., Pérez-García, M., & Verdejo-García, A. (2012). Neural Correlates of the Severity of Cocaine, Heroin, Alcohol, MDMA and Cannabis Use in Polysubstance Abusers: A Resting-PET Brain Metabolism Study. PLoS Journal, 7(6), 1-6.
National Institute of Drug Abuse. (2016, May). What is cocaine? Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-cocaine
Timber Knolls. (2018). Heroin Use Symptoms & The Side-Effects of Heroin Addiction. Retrieved from https://www.timberlineknolls.com/drug-addiction/heroin/signs-effects/
UNODC.Org. (2017). Cocaine. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WDR_2016_Chapter_1_Cocaine.pdf
WebMD. (2018, May 20). Heroin: What You Need to Know. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/heroin-use#2
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