Heroin News and Research

RSS

Heroin is a very addictive chemical called diacetylmorphine. Heroin is a modified form of morphine, a highly abundant opium derived from the seedpods of the poppy plant.

Drug treatment seekers more likely to use needle exchange

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the connection between Baltimore City's needle exchange program and drug treatment programs.

18 Jan 2007

100% of banknotes in Dublin contaminated with cocaine

An ongoing research project into the detection of illicit drug use has shown that of a sample of bank notes in current circulation in the greater Dublin area - Euro 5, 10, 20 and 50 denominations - 100% of them showed contamination with cocaine.

10 Jan 2007

Prescription drugs rather than heroin the drug of choice in Canada

A new study carried in seven Canadian cities, has revealed that prescription opioids, rather than heroin, are the biggest form of illicit opioid currently in use.

21 Nov 2006

Drug therapy for heroin addicts helps women quit smoking

New research is suggesting that women trying to quit smoking can be helped by taking medication approved for the treatment of alcohol and heroin dependence.

10 Oct 2006

Sydney bird flu suspect may be just another drug mule

According to reports the man who triggered a bird flu scare in Sydney after becoming ill on a flight from Vietnam may have been a drug courier.

28 Sep 2006

Fewer teens using illicit drugs, but no let up with the baby boomers

According to a new survey the use of illicit drugs among teenagers has dropped for the third year in a row.

13 Sep 2006

Portuguese government approves community sites where injection drug users can inject themselves under supervision

The Portuguese government has approved the establishment of community sites where injection drug users can inject themselves under supervision, and new measures call for needle-exchange programs to be installed in prisons by 2008, AFP/Today Online reports.

30 Aug 2006

China taking steps to control the spread of HIV

Zunyu Wu, director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto said the country plans to continue taking steps to control the spread of HIV in the country, AFP/Today Online reports.

17 Aug 2006

Getting high on mothballs lands teens in hospital

Doctors were mystified when an 18-year-old French woman appeared at a hospital with scaly skin on her legs and hands, and was unsteady and mentally sluggish.

30 Jul 2006

Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States

Trends analysis of drug poisoning deaths has helped explain a national epidemic of overdose deaths in the USA that began in the 1990s, concludes Leonard Paulozzi and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

24 Jul 2006

Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States

24 Jul 2006

"Magic" mushrooms create profound mystical experience and change behaviour

A group of healthy well educated volunteers appear to have achieved some sort of profound mystical experience that led to behaviour changes lasting for weeks after taking a drug derived from 'magic mushrooms'.

12 Jul 2006

Fewer high school students engage in health risk behaviors

Fewer U.S. high school students are engaging in health risk behaviors compared to their counterparts from 15 years ago, according to the 2005 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

8 Jun 2006

Treatment with methadone or buprenorphine has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich

According to newly published research Switzerland's policy of offering heroin addicts substitution treatment with methadone or buprenorphine has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich.

4 Jun 2006

Charity calls for drug "shooting galleries" to be set up in the UK

According to an independent group of experts, Britain should set up special centres for heroin addicts to inject themselves to try to cut the risk of disease and overdose.

24 May 2006

Heroin plus pain killer proves to be a lethal combo

According to health officials and the Chicago police a deadly combination of heroin and a prescription pain killer has resulted in one death and 21 others becoming ill.

15 May 2006

Transitions to injecting drug use among noninjecting heroin users

In a study reported in the current issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, scientists from the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI) report on a study of street-recruited heroin users in New York City, who were not injecting, to determine the incidence and predictors of making a transition to injecting.

11 May 2006

New therapy program for women with young children and substance abuse problems

The Mothers' and Toddlers' Program (MTP) broadens the focus of substance abuse treatment to encompass parent-child relationships. The MTP aids mothers to recognize their own, and subsequently their child's, emotional cues aiming to improve the emotional quality of the mother-child relationship and decrease the mother's preoccupation with drugs.

28 Mar 2006

Children who are open to experimenting with herbal products may be more open to trying illicit drugs

Adolescents who have ever used herbal products are six times more likely to have tried cocaine and almost 15 times more likely to have used anabolic steroids than teens who have never used herbal products

23 Mar 2006

Crystal meth the new drug pandemic

According to a U.N. narcotics watchdog the synthetic drug methamphetamine is a bigger problem in the United States and other countries than either heroin or cocaine.

1 Mar 2006