Heroin
- Injection Drug Users at High Risk of Kidney Disease, Especially if HIV-Positive
Administering drugs through injection creates greater susceptibility to numerous health hazards—including increased risk of delinquent behavior, risky sexual activity, diseases, and HIV/AIDS—than any other route of drug administration. Now, a new study has identified the injection drug user population, particularly those who are HIV-positive, as being at a high risk for poor kidney function, making them significantly more likely to have kidney disease than the general population.
- Flashblood: Injecting Addicts’ Blood in Africa
Flashblood (also called “flushblood”) is a disturbing, dangerous technique that has emerged among heroin addicts in some African cities. Addicts will inject themselves with blood extracted from another user, usually someone who has just injected heroin, to get high or to avoid withdrawal symptoms. This practice dramatically increases the risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis.
- Heroin and Drug Addiction in Lebanon
Drug abuse and heroin addiction are rising among Lebanon’s youth, and many are trying to ignore the problem.
- Dialing 911 Rare for Heroin Users
Last week, prosecutors painted a chilling picture of a 36-year-old man from McHenry County, Illinois, dying alone in a hotel room from a heroin overdose.
- Afghan Town Evicts Drug Addicts Who Won’t Quit
Village elders in a remote region of Ghazni, Afghanistan, are taking action to get the many drug-addicted youth to kick their habit, or get kicked out of town.
- Injection Drug Pamphlet: Helpful to Public Health or Dangerous “How-To” Guide?
The New York City Department of Health has come under fire for what some are calling a "how to" pamphlet on using heroin and other intravenous drugs correctly. The pamphlet, titled "Take Charge, Take Care," was created by the Department of Health in 2007 in an effort to help those who use injection drugs reduce the various risks associated with drug use. Rolake Bamgbose of ABC News writes that now there is a debate over whether the pamphlet does more harm than good.
- Heroin and HIV in Zanzibar
In Zanzibar, an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 drug addicts use syringes to inject themselves with heroin. Reuters reports that high rates of HIV among addicts threaten to affect the general population as growth in heroin trafficking through east Africa is making the drug more available.
- British Government Undermining Efforts to Tackle Prisoners’ Heroin Addiction
Former British drug advisor Mike Trace said the government is undermining efforts to tackle heroin addiction among prisoners, claiming prisoners are being prescribed the addictive heroin substitute methadone instead of being encouraged to quit altogether.
- Heroin Education Mandated for Parents of High School Seniors in Long Island
Seniors at high schools in the Smithtown school district of Long Island cannot go to prom until their parents attend a meeting about the dangers of heroin.
- Heroin Use Runs Rampant in UK Jails
Tony has spent 11 of the past 16 years in prison, and for 10 of those years he was addicted to heroin. The 31-year-old started using in jail, and said that drugs were part of the scene from his first days in a young offender’s institute. “Time became irrelevant,” Tony told the BBC. “It you had enough heroin your sentence would fly by.”