Psychology: Drugs And Abuse

11 Pages 2824 Words

led circumstances (Perrine, 1996). Her! oin is also an opioid, and is formed by reacting morphine with one of many acetylating agents. Heroin by itself is inactive, but when it enters the brain, it is chemically changed and attaches itself to the opioid receptors in the brain (Perrine, 1996). Heroin is illegal in the United States, but is used medically in countries such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Heroin is a very addictive drug, and the most popular treatment is methadone. Methadone is a drug that is similar to heroin, except that it takes several hours to take affect and doesn't provide the "high" that heroin does. An estimated 600,000 heroin addicts are in the United States, and only about 115,000 are enrolled in methadone maintenance programs (Recer, 1997). The addiction from the opioids is caused by: (1) the withdrawal symptoms being too much tolerate; (2) the sense of euphoria simply feels good; and (3) it is an attempt to self-medicate an endogenous ps! ychological or physical disor...