Prescription Painkillers and Heroin Are Opiates
Heroin is an illegal opiate drug. Prescription painkillers can also be abused. The use of an opiate causes physical and psychological problems such as shallow breathing, nausea, panic and trouble sleeping. As an opiate user continues to abuse the drug, he or she needs more and more of it to get the same effect.

Prescription Painkillers and Heroin Are Highly Addictive
Opiate addiction causes users to have a strong need for persistent, repeated use of the drug. This need is known as craving. For addicts, attempts to stop using the drug lead to significant and painful physical symptoms called withdrawal. Opiates are extremely addictive because they activate many important regions of the brain, like those that tell the body what it needs and what it likes. Together, these actions make the users lose control and make the drug habit-forming.

Opiates Can Cause Many Related Health Problems
AIDS - Opiate use spreads HIV and AIDS. HIV infection can occur when one person with HIV or AIDS uses a needle to inject heroin and shares the needle with another person. HIV can also be transmitted by having sex with an IV drug user who has become infected. Needle sharing by IV drug users is fast becoming the leading cause of new AIDS cases. There is no cure for AIDS and no proven vaccine to prevent it.

Unhealthy Pregnancy - Opiate use during pregnancy can cause stillbirths, miscarriages and developmental problems. Pregnant women who abuse heroin or prescription painkillers pass the addiction on to their babies. Babies born addicted to opiates must undergo extremely difficult and painful withdrawal after birth.

Opiate Use Has Many Signs and Symptoms
Opiate Use - If someone is using an opiate, he or she might show signs of extreme happiness, drowsiness, slow breathing (or stopping breathing), small pupils and nausea. If you observe these symptoms, talk with the individual and work to get professional substance abuse treatment.

Withdrawal -Withdrawal symptoms include watery eyes, runny nose, yawning, loss of appetite, tremors, panic, chills, sweating, nausea, muscle cramps and trouble sleeping.

Increases in blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and temperature occur as withdrawal progresses. Again, if you observe these symptoms, get professional substance abuse treatment.

Overdose - Symptoms of an opiate overdose include shallow breathing, pinpoint pupils, clammy skin, convulsion and coma. If you observe these symptoms contact emergency medical help immediately.

Opiate Use Has Many Risk Factors
Risk factors of drug abuse can increase the likelihood that a person will abuse drugs. A person may be more likely to use drugs if he or she has one or more of these risk factors. Some risk factors of drug abuse are:

• Troubled home environments;
• Parents who abuse drugs or who are mentally ill;
• Lack of close relationships and nurturing;
• Inappropriate shy or aggressive behavior in the classroom;
• Failing grades;
• Poor social coping skills;
• Relationships with peers who often disobey rules or who have poor behavior; and
• Belief that your school, peers and community think drug use is okay.

Opiate Use Also Has Protective Factors
Protective factors can make it less likely that a person will use drugs.

Some protective factors are:

• Strong bonds with your family;
• Healthy discipline from parents;
• Parents who are involved in their children's lives;
• Good grades;
• Involvement in activities with other people (like sports or church groups); and
• A good understanding of drugs and their consequences.

When are young people at highest risk for drug use?

Important life transitions (like moving to a different city or starting at a new school) can be very hard times for young people. At these times, teens may be more likely to try drugs. The transition from elementary school to middle school or junior high is a stage at which children may encounter drug use for the first time. Later on, when they enter high school, young people face social, psychological and educational challenges as they prepare for the future, and these challenges can lead to use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. When young adults go on to college, get married or enter the workforce, they again face new risks from alcohol and other drug abuse in their new adult environments. Many people who start using tobacco and alcohol are likely to progress to using illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

For more information, contact The Acadia Hospital at 973-6166.