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Name:Anonamous
Course: Brain & Behaviour
Student Number:
For: Dr J Podd
Assignment 2: Heroin-A Dopers Paradise
Word count:
Based on APA 6
th
edition
Drawings; Figure 1,2 & 3 hand drawn






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Do you know me

Hello, my name is heroin,
even though you thought I was just medicine
we've almost become akin

Spoon and syringe it's all it took
it's me the devil, and I have you
on my hook

You said I couldn't catch you
but look at your arms it's all black and blue
remember I don't care
because my friend, it's all about you

Guess who turned from virgin to whore
as I knew you'd be coming
begging for more

I know you're on your knees trying to contain
in minutes you'll be screaming
to God in vain

Remember buying me in bags
so tonight I'll have your
dreams and hopes in rags

Hello, my name is heroin,
so read my instructions well
for pretty soon I'll be
meeting you at the gates of hell
Emanuel Maisel (2012)

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Heroin- a dopers paradise
Chasing the dragon, orange line, ferry dust or crank, call it what you want, it makes us
conjure up grim images and fill us with emotions ranging from anger, fear, disgust and
sympathy with those caught up in the claws of heroin. Heroin creates a false mindset
where the user thinks of very little else other than the drug. It is for this reason that
heroin has caused family heart-aches and addicts separating themselves from those
who were once very close to them. Very few people can ever escape the life-sentence
and those who even manage to make it to hardcore rehabilitation programs, do it only
through the intervention of those who love them enough to push them to face their
demon. This essay will provide an overview on heroin use, addiction and changes in the
personality of the heroin user.

Heroin is a drug extracted from the opium poppy (papawer somniferum) meaning the
poppy that brings sleep (Snyder & Lader, 1988, p.13). Opium was first recognised
about 4000 years ago and its use as a medicine has continued until today. First
synthesized in 1898 from morphine (a drug extracted from opium), heroin was thought
to curing morphine addiction, and it was, in fact, the company Bayer, who gave heroin
its name (Snyder & Lader, 1988).

Heroin in its raw form is a milky juice that is drained from the poppy capsule. This is
then dried in the sun and processed into heroin. The final product that ends up with the
addict on the street actually contains only 5% of the original substance, as dilution takes
place with products such as milk powder, quinine and even rat poison (Snyder & Lader,
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1988). Even with this clear scientific data re the dangers of heroin it still manages to find
a way to the user.

Heroin is absorbed into the bodys cells through many routes, such as swallowing,
sniffing (snorting), smoking and injecting. Smoking heroin is the quickest way of
entering the bloodstream through the lung membranes. Oral administration or
swallowing the powder or raw heroin passes through the liver where most of the harmful
elements are neutralised so when the heroin does finally reach the brain, it is less
effective. For this reason, many drugs (pharmaceutical) produced for ailments such as
coughing, containing commercial morphine reach the brain in a diluted form. The reason
for this is that the food in the stomach encapsulates the actual heroin/morphine, and
passes through into the feces.

Heroin absorption passes the stomach and is absorbed into the small intestine. The
amount and speed of the effect of the heroin are, however, controlled through stomach
acids and enzymes. Obstacles such as food in the stomach encapsulating the drug,
causes a change in the effect of heroin when swallowing the drug either on a full or
empty stomach. With all resources spent on the drug, most heroin addicts will not have
food in their stomach and will experience added physiological effects. Maisto et al.,
(2008) found that when taking heroin, the stomach acid in the digestive tract system will
break the drug up before absorption could take place.

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The second route of heroin administration, is smoking. The smoke contains small
droplets of heroin, which is an adequate amount of the drug to satisfy the craving, for
the moment. Intranasal, snorting or sniffing is another easy and quick way of getting the
drug into the brain, with a disadvantage of damage to either the nasal septum or the
lining inside the nose, which forces the user to quickly follow a more dangerous
administration of the drug namely intravenously.

Intravenously, or main-lining into the vein gives the heroin addict an immediate reward
and most addicts follow this route. As shown in Figure 1, large quantities of heroin reach
the brain immediately and heroin users who follow this method, are considered to be the
hardcore ones, who dont give much for the equipment used, whether sterile or not, nor
the amount injected into the vein. Many die because of an overdose ( Maisto et al.,
2008). Main-lining puts the heroin in direct contact with the blood, the vehicle of
distribution on route to the brain.








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Heroin distribution depends on the biochemical properties of the body, as certain parts
of the body get more blood than other, and this follows that more of the drug is received
in those areas (Marieb, 2004). Distribution of substances such as heroin is affected by
the diffusibility of membranes, especially in the brain and fat solubility. Drugs are more
soluble in lipids, such as phospholipids, that act as a bilayer in the nervous tissue
(Marieb, 2004).

The fact that heroin is more soluble in lipid, allows a more rapid passage through the
blood-brain barrier. According to the researchers Maisto et al., (2008), heroin is a
chemical that disrupts the bodys normal biochemical and absorption and distribution to
its sites of activity is constantly regulated and can only be monitored by the elimination
of the drug from the body.

Elimination of heroin in the body can either be excreted from the body directly or as a
by-product. Enzymes in the liver, kidneys and gastrointestinal (GI) track play a role in
the metabolism of drugs. Most of the drug is broken down by those enzymes in the (GI)
tract and may be excreted directly into the feces. Heroin is metabolised as morphine
into the blood barrier, it is excreted into the urine. A term that is used in drug elimination
of heroin from the body is called half-life and is used to determine the amount of time
that passes for the body to eliminate half of the original amount taken.

An important characteristic of frequent use of psycho stimulants or opiates (poppy
based drugs) is to activate dopaminergic neurons. This leads to changes that influence
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the user. These changes manifest in striatal tissue dopamine levels and explain the
dysphoric anhedonic motivational state during withdrawal from the drug (Kish et al.,
2004, p.1). According to researchers Volkow and Li (2004), heroin is misused for
several reasons, including the gratifying satisfaction of euphoric effects and self-
medication for physical and mental disorders.

Repeated use of heroin leads to addiction, which is an uncontrolled desire for the drug
with an uncontrollable urge to take the drug at the expense of catastrophic
consequences. The erratic behaviour displayed by the user, has been perceived by
many as preferred choice but brain imaging has shown that heroin was shown as
interference with regions that motivate, reward and inhibit control (Volkow and Li, 2004).
Their opinion that addiction is a brain disease, and abnormal behaviour is the result of
dysfunction of brain tissue. However, not all addicted individuals show these
abnormalities. Research into these neurobiological processes is essential to
characterize the actions of the heroin addict. Although the term addiction is loosely
overused and yoked to TV addicts and chocoholics it should be noted that addiction is a
neurological disorder. Chronic drug use is necessary to define addiction and is
manifested by an interaction between a biological and environmental component.
Inconclusive opinions have been drawn because of researchers approach from either a
biological or environmental perspective relative to addiction might lead to speculation
why only certain individuals become addicts and others not.

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Important discoveries re the effect of drugs on gene expressions, protein products and
neuron circuits may even lead to evidence of biological and environmental factors
responsible for addiction behaviour Nestler (as cited in Volkow and Li, 2004).
Development processes might add to drug use risk being higher as an adolescent, with
peer pressure, risk-taking and seeking of uniqueness. Early use of heroin reflects
undeveloped myelination of frontal lobe regions from where motivation and executive
control is situated Sowell (as cited in Volkow and Li, 2004). The researchers further
suggest that studies are to be done to understand whether neuroadaptation are greater
in adolescents than in individuals who start using heroin in later life.

Heroin abuse causes a disruption in the reward pathway of the brain. Biologically, the
brain receives rewards through stimuli and creates certain behaviour patterns. Such
stimuli act through brain mechanisms that make use of endogenous neurotransmitters.
As shown in Figure 2, the brain reward system is a composite of neurons that reward or
make us feel good when we do the things that is needed to survive and procreate. It is a
unique system that strengthens our urge to repeat the action that gives the pleasurable
effects. According to Volkow and Li (2004), heroin is misused not only for the pleasure
but also to improve performance and self-medication for mental disorders. Chronic
exposure to heroin not only changes the structure of the system but also dampens the
pleasure effects that increase the craving that leads to drug addiction (Nestler and
Malenka, 2004). These drugs are found to reflect incomplete development of the
myelination of frontal lobe regions Sowel (as cited in Volkow and Li, 2004), involved in
the processes of executive control and motivation. Addiction is quickly learnt through
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certain components of the brain such as the amygdala, which is responsible in
assessing and evaluating whether an experience is gratifying or unfavorable and
whether repeating the experience should be resisted or not. The hippocampus holds the
memories of the experience for future references, and the frontal regions of the cerebral
cortex processes this information from the mesolimbic rewarding system in judging the
extent of the dopamine activity (Nestler and Maleka 2004). If the reward was high, the
action will be repeated.












Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is released and occurs in high
concentrations in the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbrens. This
neurotransmitter is associated with eating and sex and the feelings of pleasure and
occurs in the mesolimbic dopamine system.
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This pleasure or reward pathway starts in the VTA or ventral tegmental area and flows
to the dopamine sensitive neurons in the nucleus accumbrens. This is known as the
brains reward circuit (Nestler and Malenka, 2004). Regions in the brain itself seemingly
disparate seeking reward include areas associated with sensory, motor and
associational functions being sites along the medial forebrain bundle, lateral
hypothalamic, posterior hypothalamic and ventral segmented area (Wise, 1998). As
shown in Figure 3, the natural flow of the pathway is disturbed by heroin as it binds to
the neurons in the VTA and causes extra dopamine to flow to the nucleus accumbrens
(Nestler and Malenka, 2004). As stated, the brain quickly adapts to the new added
amount of dopamine and this leads to addiction.












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According to Lambert (2000), some people can take heroin without becoming addicted,
which challenges whether the drug or heroin itself is addictive. Addiction follows a
character of neither a substance nor a personality type, but forms a kinship with that of
gambling, sex, work and other uncontrolled use, despite negative significant
repercussions. Heroin addiction means tolerance, the need to increase the levels to
maintain the levels of pleasure and withdrawal, the psychic and bodily disorders that
coincide with the interruption of Heroin use (Lambert, 2000). Although both descriptions
indicate neuroadaptation pathological gamblers show physiological indications of
withdrawal and tolerance much like a heroin addict and continue on a self-destructive
behaviour. According to researchers Madras, (as cited in Lambert, 2000), chemical
structures of drugs closely mirror the chemical structure of neurotransmitters. The brain
quickly adapts to the abnormal signals of the drug as evidenced by brain adaptation is a
primary proof of addiction (Lambert, 2000).

Epigenetics may contribute to why individuals become addicted to illicit drugs such as
heroin. Several studies have examined the probability of genetic factors contributing to
the fact that some individuals are more susceptible to addiction than others (Lambert,
2000). As stated before, heroin influences the brain's reward system and has led to the
discovery that neurons in the nucleus accumbrens appear to have more dendrite
structures (Higgins, 2008). Heroin abuse stimulates this dendrite expression and thus
increases communication in the reward pathway.

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Cdk5 is a protein involved in the communication process at synapse level and inhibiting
this protein reduced the dendrite branching in the nucleus accumbrens and again
reducing the reward activity Nestler (as cited in Higgins, 2008). If a drug such as heroin
can change the production of a protein such as Cdk5, which is responsible for the
branchlike dendrite growth bringing an epigenetic change might, then be responsible for
the addictive behaviour.

If epigenetic mechanisms promote or inhibit accessibility to a cell's gene, could this be
an answer to the fact that not everybody becomes addicts as we differ in our DNA
makeup (Higgins, 2008). Heroin influences dopamine synapses in inhibiting an inhibitor
of dopamine release, actually causes an increase in dopamine release (Kalat, 2007).
Dynorphin a natural molecule with opiumlike effects inhibits neurons in the VTA. The
chronic stimulation heroin then stifles the reward system and causes the same dose of
the drug reduces the level of reward (Nestler and Malenka, 2004).

In conclusion, heroin abuse is a complex problem resulting from a coalescence of
hereditary, psychological and environmental influence and is characterized in anti-social
behaviour stemming from uncontrollable urges and cravings. As explored in this essay,
the damage that the individual experiences not only physiologically and psychologically
but also malnutrition, poor self-esteem and depression, is enough to demonstrate the
absolute hell that the addicts undergo before, if ever, admitting to the fact of addiction.
As a consequence, we may try to eliminate the avenues of supply, but we will never
eliminate the power of individual heroin demand.
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References
Higgins, E. S. (2008). The new genetics of mental illness. Scientific American Mind, 19,
40-47.
Kalat, J. W. (2009). Biological psychology (10th ed.). USA: Wadsworth
Kish, S. J., Kalasinsky, K. S., Derkach, P., Schmunk, G., Guttman, M., Ang, L.,&
Haycock,J. W. (2001). Striatal Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Markers in
Human heroin Users. Neuropsychopharmacology, (24)5
Lambert, C. (2000, April). Deep Cravings. Harvard Magazine. Retrieved from
http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/03/deep-cravings.html
Maisto, S. A., Galizio, M., & Connors, G. J. (228). Pharmacology. In Drug Use and
Abuse, (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth, 66-90.
Marieb, E. N., Human Anatomy & Physiology. 6
th
edition, San Francisco, CA: Pearson
Publishing
Nestler, E. J., & Malenka, R. C. (2004, March). The addicted brain. Scientific American,
50-57.
Snyder, S. H., & Lader, M. H. (1988). Heroin. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive drugs.
London. England: Burke Publishing Company Limited
Volkow, N. D., & Li, T. (2004). Drug addiction: the neurobiology of behaviour gone awry.
Science and Society, 5(12)
Wise, R. A. ((1998). Drug-activation of brain reward pathways. Drug and Alcohol
Dependence, 51, 13-22.