What Is Heroin?

There are many hazardous and illegal drugs out there. However, few drugs are more addictive than heroin. With that said, not everyone knows what this drug is. So what is heroin?

What Is Heroin?

Heroin is a drug that comes from the opium poppy flower. It grows naturally in South America, Mexico, and Asia. The drug first became illegal in the United States in 1924 because it’s highly addictive.

Heroin has a lot of street names, including junk, brown sugar and smack. The drug also has a few forms. Typically, people get it as either a white or brown powder. However, some people even sell the drug as a sticky black substance that they call black tar.

What Is Heroin for the United States?

Yes, heroin use in the United States is on the rise. In fact, heroin use continues to grow for a lot of reasons. One is because of its cheap price tag.

Most people don’t start off using heroin, though. Instead, they start with other opioids such as prescription pain pills. These pills are expensive through street dealers, so they eventually look for a cheaper alternative that produces a similar high. That’s when they turn to heroin, which is an opioid as well.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that deaths from heroin overdose are also on the rise. Between 2008 and 2014, the number of people who died from heroin overdose jumped over 130 percent. These figures indicate that there’s a big heroin problem in the United States.

What’s the Difference Between Pure Heroin and Black Tar Heroin?

When people learn about what is heroin, it’s important that they understand the different types. Pure heroin and black tar heroin are the two most common forms in the United States.

Pure heroin is a white powder that comes from Southeast Asia and South America. The powder itself is usually bitter in taste.

Black tar heroin, however, comes from Mexico. It gets its name from its dark, tar-like color. Generally, black tar is also sticky, but sometimes it’s hard like coal. Its name comes from the impurities that remain after the process that creates it.

Get Treatment for Heroin Addiction

At Steps to Recovery, we offer opiate addiction treatment. We want to help you understand, what is heroin. In fact, we provide several unique treatment programs with the goal of assisting people to get over drug addiction. Some of the programs that we offer include: