Addiction and Opiates
Addiction and Opiates
Addiction and Opiates
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APPENDIX KINDS OF DRUGS AND METHODS OF USE<br />
viewpoint, both more efficient <strong>and</strong> less expensive than the physician's syringe. It consists of a medicine dropper that is<br />
fitted into a hypodermic needle. The drug is placed in a small metal container such as a spoon, a bottle top, or the<br />
cover of a tobacco can. AD appropriate quantity of water is added with the medicine dropper, mixed with the drug,<br />
heated with a match or two to dissolve it, <strong>and</strong> then drawn up into the medicine dropper. A small bit of cotton is used to<br />
filter or strain impurities from the solution when it is drawn into the ropper. When the latter is filled to the desired<br />
level it is fitted into the hypodermic needle by means of a "collar" or "gasket" <strong>and</strong> the user is then ready to take his fix.<br />
Preparation for the fix involves, for the usual right h<strong>and</strong>ed addict, tying Lip the left arm between the shoulder <strong>and</strong> the<br />
elbow so as to distend the veins below that point. When the needle appears to have been inserted into the vein the user<br />
may check this fact by Doting the appearance of small quantities of blood in the lower part of the medicine dropper.<br />
The injection is made by squeezing the rubber bulb of the medicine dropper with the right h<strong>and</strong>. The needle is then<br />
withdrawn <strong>and</strong> the arm untied. The injections are usually made in the veins on the inside of the arm, but those on the<br />
back of the h<strong>and</strong> may also be used. Similar techniques may be employed to make injections into the veins of the legs.<br />
It is reported that an occasional user will make injections directly into the jugular vein when he is unable to locate<br />
others (for example, because they have collapsed).<br />
A small number of addicts who object to the intravenous route may use the simpler one of intra muscular injection.<br />
Others who dislike the hypodermic method altogether may take their drug in the form of pills or even sprinkle it over<br />
their food like salt. In some foreign countries it is reported that suppositories are used. In the Far East, a popular<br />
method of heroin use is by inhalation of its fumes when it is heated, on a piece of tinfoil, for example. This particular<br />
method is known as "chasing the dragon" from the fact that the relatively heavy fumes are said to form dragon like<br />
shapes in the depressions of the tinfoil.<br />
During the first decades of the century, morphine <strong>and</strong> heroin competed with each other in the American illicit market,<br />
with the latter gradually replacing the former, probably because it is easier to dilute <strong>and</strong> easier to h<strong>and</strong>le <strong>and</strong> to conceal<br />
as well as being more potent. Since World War 11 when synthetic equivalents such as methadone <strong>and</strong> pethidine or<br />
Demerol began to be used extensively by physicians, addicts have acquired some acquaintance with these <strong>and</strong> related<br />
drugs which also occasionally turn up in the illicit trade. Under emergency conditions, as already indicated, addicts<br />
may resort to a wide variety of inferior substitutes. There are, for example, cough remedies or mixtures, such as terpin<br />
hydrate, that contain codeine. Another cough suppressant, Percodan, contains the drug oxycodone hydrochloride,<br />
which is more potent than codeine. Addicts in some regions arc said to have taken up the use of Darvon (propoxyphene<br />
hydrochloride), an analgesic that is not as powerful as codeine <strong>and</strong> has the disadvantage of producing undesirable sideeffects.<br />
Under pressure, addicts may also try non-addicting drugs or addicting drugs unrelated to morphine or the<br />
opiates, such as the barbiturates, the amphetamines, <strong>and</strong> others.<br />
While the main methods of taking drugs have been touched upon, there are others of an emergency type that may be<br />
resorted to when the circumstances require it. Thus, a user may gouge or cut a wound in his skin <strong>and</strong> either inject the<br />
solution directly with a medicine dropper or simply put the powdered drug into the wound so that it may be absorbed.<br />
If a medicine dropper is at b<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> hypodermic needles are not, in prison for example, the hollow end of a sewing<br />
machine needle may be inserted into the vein <strong>and</strong> the injection made by sliding the medicine dropper over it <strong>and</strong><br />
pressing it against the skin. A user, reporting on his experience with this technique, said that on one occasion when be<br />
withdrew the medicine dropper the point of the sewing machine needle bad vanished into the vein <strong>and</strong> was never seen<br />
again. Reference should also be made to "sniffing" or "snorting," in which the drug in powdered form is inhaled into<br />
the nostrils. Heroin <strong>and</strong> cocaine were formerly used in this way, <strong>and</strong> the practice is still encountered.<br />
it seems reasonable to suppose that, as new drugs are produced, other addicting substances not presently known will be<br />
found <strong>and</strong> that some of these, as well as some of those already known to pharmacologists, will become known to<br />
addicts. Should the international campaign to restrict the cultivation of the poppy <strong>and</strong> the production of opium ever<br />
begin to show signs of reaching its goal, it seems reasonable to suppose that the natural opiates <strong>and</strong> heroin which now<br />
flow in the world's channels of illicit distribution may be replaced or supplemented by synthetics manufactured in<br />
secret illegal laboratories.<br />
file:///I|/drugtext/local/library/books/adopiates/appendix.htm[24-8-2010 14:23:39]