HEROIN

Dope, Smack, H, or Junk

Rachel Gerdt PharmD student Purdue University College of Pharmacy

November 9 2022

HISTORY/BACKGROUND

1874: Heroin is synthesized for the first time by CR Alder Wright at St. Mary's hospital in London.

1897: Heroin is made by Felix Hoffman at Bayer Pharmaceutical. Company recognized drug's potential and began marketing it for the treatment of respiratory ailments.

1898: Bayer began exporting heroin to other countries. Use became widespread as people saw the drug was more effective than morphine and thought it had less side effects.

1911: many experiments were done that determined heroin is as addictive as morphine.

1913: Bayer stops production of heroin.

1920: House of Delegates of the American Medical Association announced that heroin be eliminated from all medicinal preparations and should not be prescribed or dispensed.

1924: All legitimate production of heroin stopped due to Heroin Act.

1965-1970: Vietnam war was happening and people blamed U.S. involvement in the war for an increase in illegal heroin being imported into the U.S.

1971: It was found that many American soldiers were addicted to heroin.

Pharmacology

Synthesized from the acetylation of morphine (diacetylmorphine)

The activate metabolites are 6-O-acetylmorphine and morphine.

Drug is an opioid analgesic and euphoric depressant

Binds and activates the mu-opioid receptors of the CNS. This binding mediates respiratory depression, euphoria, and physical dependence.

Due to nature of the receptor, tolerance is obtained quickly

Route of Administration includes snorting, smoking, or injecting intravenously.

FUN FACT: Heroin was most likely named from "heroisch", the German term meaning large, powerful, or one with pronounced effect even in small doses.

Pharmacology

Bonkers Institute. 2008. 1901 Bayer Heroin ad. http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/bayer heroin1901.html

Toxicology

Short Term Adverse Effects: flushing of the skin, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, severe itching, drowsiness, respiratory depression, and decreased heart action.

Long Term: Deterioration of brain white matter, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms. The respiratory and heart depression can lead to death

Concurrent use of Alcohol or Benzodiazepines can increase CNS depression.

MONITORING/DRUG SCREENS

Can be detected in standard and extended drug tests.

Detected in urine for 1-4 days.

Laws

NEUROtiker. March 7 2007. Heroin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin

Heroin is a schedule 1 controlled substance. For possession of heroin a person can face up to 1 year in prison and a minimum fine of 1000 dollars. Law regarding trafficking of heroin are as follows: trafficking involves movement of 100-999 grams of heroin.

First offense not less than 5 years and not more than 40 years in prison. Fine of 5 million if individual person and 25 million if not an individual.

Second Offense not less than 10 years and not more than life. If death of serious injury occur penalty if life in prison. Fine of 8 million dollars if an individual and 50 million if not an individual.

Professional Opinion

After research and learning more about heroin I think that it should remain a schedule 1 drug. Although it does have powerful analgesic effects, the toxicities and addiction risk associated with heroin make it unsafe to use in any medical setting. Furthermore, newer and safer options have been developed since the time that heroin was discovered for treatment of respiratory ailments.

RESOURCES:

Heroin street names, nicknames & slang terms. American Addiction Centers. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/heroin-treatment/ slang-names. Published July 13, 2022. Accessed October 13, 2022.

Heroin. Erowid heroin vault : Timeline. https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/heroin/heroin_timeline.php. Accessed October 13, 2022. S; H. [heroin, part III: The pharmacology of heroin]. Acta pharmaceutica Hungarica. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15112443/#:~:text=The%20analgesic%20effects%20of%20heroin,depression%2C%20euphoria%20and%2 0physical%20dependence. Accessed October 13, 2022.

University leadership. University Leadership | Seattle Pacific University. https://spu.edu/university-leadership. Accessed October 13, 2022. UNODC - Bulletin on narcotics - 1953 issue 2 - 003. United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/dataand-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1953-01-01_2_page004.html. Accessed October 13, 2022.