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Heroin Deaths

Heroin deaths are often attributed to an overdose. This is an unpleasant aspect of the life of any heroin user, regardless of whether they inject heroin or not. Here we will review the many different kinds of heroin deaths linked to heroin use. When most people refer to heroin deaths they usually call it .overdose.. However, this is not a good idea. Surprisingly, heroin overdose is one of the least common forms of heroin deaths. This fact often causes many experienced heroin users to become cocky about heroin deaths.

A heroin overdose is exactly what the two words that make up the word indicate: "over dose"--having too high a dose of the drug. The primary effect of heroin is respiratory depression. If too much heroin is ingested, breathing will stop all together and the user will suffocate.

As an individual takes heroin more frequently, their body becomes accustomed to the drugs presence. At this point it takes more heroin to produce the same desired effects. This is what is known as tolerance. Tolerance is not a function of a drug, however; it is a function of a drug effect. People become tolerant to heroin's euphoria much faster than they do to its respiratory depression. As a result of this, a person may overdose because they have become very tolerant of the euphoria caused by heroin, but not nearly as tolerant to it respiratory depression.

The most frequent cause of heroin deaths is a bad interaction between heroin and CNS depressants, especially alcohol and barbiturates. Heroin deaths can happen when a drunk person ingests a relatively small amount of heroin. This appears to have been the cause of Janis Joplin's death, in addition to the deaths of many others who are commonly said to have died of "heroin overdose".

Another type of heroin deaths includes quinine. This substance is commonly used to cut white powder heroin. One of the common causes of heroin deaths is pulmonary edema. This is the lungs filling with fluid, resulting in the user drowning. Heroin does not have this effect, but this is precisely the effect of a quinine overdose. These types of heroin deaths are ironic because what is commonly called "heroin overdose" is killing the user precisely because what he is ingesting has little heroin in it, and rather has a high concentration of quinine.

Lastly, one of the most feared drug cocktail is the speedball--the combination of heroin and cocaine. Speedballs are dangerous, but the harm caused by them seems to be due primarily to the cocaine. Cocaine increases blood pressure and can cause heart-attacks.

Out of the 11,651 deaths... accidental and intentional by way of suicide... reported to DAWN by medical examiners in 1999, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, 4,820 were the result of heroin or morphine abuse, or some combination of those and other drugs.