Heroin
Heroin is an opiate made from morphine (opiates dull pain). Morphine is extracted from the opium poppy. Like many drugs made from opium, including synthetic opioids (e.g. methadone) heroin is a very strong painkiller[1]. Ninety percent of Heroin found in the UK is supplied from Afghanistan[2].
Rise in Heroin Related Deaths
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that deaths from heroin overdoses rose sharply in 2008-09. Figures from St George's hospital in London, a national centre for monitoring substance abuse, also showed a rise with the average age of victims now in the late 30s.
The ONS figures, drawn only from England and Wales, show an 11% overall increase in drug poisonings in 2008 - compared with the previous year – and a total of 2,928 fatalities. Of those, 897 involved heroin or morphine – up 8% on the previous year – and 235 deaths related to cocaine – up 20% on 2007. John Corkery, of St George's hospital, said the average age for drug victims had risen from 32 in 1998 to 37.8 in 2008[3].
Methodone Addiction Treatment
According to a 2004 study by the International Epidemiological Association:
- Age-standardized mortality rate for heroin/morphine increased from 5 to 30 per million between 1993 and 2000,subsequently declining to 24 deaths per million in 2004.
- Age-standardized mortality rates involving methadone were similar to heroin until 1997, after which they decreased to just over 1993 levels in 2004.
- During this period the number of methadone prescriptions more than doubled and the death rate per 1000 patient years fell by three quarters.
- The age-standardized rate for heroin/morphine deaths and methadone were strongly associated with law enforcement seizures of these drugs.
Resources
- Nick Davies, What's wrong with the war on drugs , The Guardian, February 2001
- Nick Davies, The politics of the drug war , The Guardian, February 2001
- NHS National Statistics, Statistics on Drug Misuse, England 2009, NHS Website, Accessed 13-January-2009
Notes
- ↑ A-Z Of Drugs, Heroin, FRANK, Accessed 13-January-2009
- ↑ Mark Townsend, Anushka Asthana and Denis Campbell, Heroin UK, The Guardian, 24-December-2006, Accessed 13-January-2009
- ↑ Owen Bowcott and Adam Gabbatt, Sharp rise in fatal cocaine and heroin overdoses, discloses ONS, The Guardian, 26-August-2009, Accessed 13-January-2010
