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Heroin is one of the most commonly recognized drugs by name, but most people are not familiar enough with heroin to identify it by sight. While this may be a testament to their lack of drug use, the inability to recognize and identify heroin can cause more harm than good. Understanding what heroin looks like can help to avoid heroin use as well as identify heroin use disorders in others. This can lead to earlier intervention, a chance at rehabilitation, and less likelihood that a person will need heroin overdose treatment.
Heroin identification is tricky. Many illicit substances sold on the drug market are similar in appearance and come in similar containers. However, heroin is distinct from other drugs in several unique and identifiable ways.
Heroin is part of a drug class called ‘opiates.’ One of the most well-known opiates, morphine, is developed from the poppy plant and is frequently used in the medical field to treat severe pain and terminal illnesses. In the last decade, however, the development and rise of synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids have been seen in the medical world and the illicit drug markets. Heroin is one of these semi-synthetic opioids developed from morphine.
Unlike morphine, a prescription medication, heroin is an illicit substance and is illegal on the drug market today. In the medical field, doctors prescribe morphine and give it through an IV at the hospital or are available for pick-up at the pharmacy. On the street, heroin is seldom, if ever, administered in pill form. Instead, most of the time, people take heroin through self-injection.
Being close relatives, one would assume that heroin and morphine would produce the same effects. This is only partly true. While both are fast-acting painkillers, heroin is three times more potent than morphine, is faster acting, and is more addictive. While identifying heroin from other opioids is difficult in every day practice, simply understanding that heroin is an opioid and produces similar, if not stronger, opiate-specific side effects like drowsiness and euphoria is a good start.
Heroin is unique from other drugs in that it comes in various colors. While the color pallet of heroin is not expansive, the color of heroin tells you quite a bit of information about it.
White heroin is the purest form of the drug. White heroin is a white powdered substance that typically comes in bags (or in mass drug trafficking, bricks). White heroin is difficult, time-intensive, and expensive to produce and is often sold at higher prices than other forms of heroin. However, you should note that not all white heroin is pure. Some would argue that very little of it is. Because white heroin is so costly to produce, most white heroin is cut with other substances ranging from flour to fentanyl. The act of cutting white heroin decreases its purity. To take white heroin, people either smoke, inject, or snort it.
Brown heroin looks similar to white heroin except that it ranges from a sandy, brown-ish color to an off-white colored powder. Brown heroin is an unrefined form of heroin and is often much cheaper than white heroin. It is typically only snorted or smoked as it does not reduce well under heat for injecting.
Black heroin, often referred to as “black tar heroin,” is the crudest and cheapest form of heroin to produce. Black tar heroin is unique from other heroin because it appears as a solid black or brown sticky lump. This lump might look similar to a blob of black tar, coal, or even rock. Black tar heroin is reduced with heat for injection and smoking and is most often packaged in plastic cling wrap to keep it from sticking to other things.
Because heroin comes in different forms and is taken in various ways, it only makes sense that the packaging of heroin should vary. Powdered forms of heroin, like white and brown, often comes in different-sized plastic bags. Stamp bags and dime bags are the typical sizes sold on the street and are small enough to tuck into a pocket. These bags typically contain small fractions of a single gram of heroin. In the drug trafficking sphere, powdered heroin can appear in larger bags or bricks.
On the street, black tar heroin is most often sold in small chunks wrapped in plastic cling wrap, tin foil, or even little rubbery balloon-like bags.
When heroin is loose and out of its packaging, though, it does vary in appearance. White and brown heroin can look like a powder, a syringe full of either a clear or brown liquid, melted clear or brown liquid in a spoon, foil, or other heat-resistant surfaces, or even as a heated liquid or liquid residue in the bottom of a specialized pipe. Black tar heroin is similar except for coming in a loose powder form.
Although most people recognize the word “heroin,” it is uncommon to hear the word thrown around so casually by those who use it. To keep heroin dealing and use under the radar of law enforcement, many people who deal and use heroin use “street names” for the drug. Some of the most common street names for heroin are:
These are only a few of the common street names for heroin, and this list is by no means all-inclusive. The street names for drugs are often unique to their region; it can take close listening to pick up on whether or not somebody is referencing heroin. While you may never hear a person openly talk about their heroin use, you may chance upon hearing somebody use a street name in passing. If this happens with somebody you care about, you can use that word as a way to enter into a conversation and approach them about the meaning of the word and perhaps even their heroin use.
Knowing what heroin is and how to identify it may seem like a niche matter, but it is extremely important in our current drug climate. Whether or not you or somebody you know is using heroin, there is a possibility that you might come across an overdosed person, and recognizing what drugs they may have around them can help you better inform 911 and even save their life.
Additionally, with the growing drug epidemic, you will likely know at least one person with a heroin use disorder in your life. Recognizing heroin, the packaging, and paraphernalia can be important in defining their addiction and then approaching them with help. Regardless of how you come across it, knowing how to identify heroin can save lives and help people to get the help they need faster.
Identifying heroin can be tricky, but getting help for a heroin use disorder doesn’t have to be. Here at Serenity Lane, we offer the gold standard in care for substance use disorders like heroin. If you have noticed a loved one who appears to be in need of heroin addiction treatment, the time for action is now, and Serenity Lane can help. To learn more about Serenity Lane and what we have to offer, call us today at: 800-543-9905.
The best way to identify heroin is by taking it to your local law enforcement station and turning it over to them for testing. That said, heroin can be identified often by sight and proximity to paraphernalia.
Heroin comes in many forms. It can be white or brown powder, blackish-brown sticky lumps, and even clear or dark liquid.
Heroin is a semi-synthetic opioid that is three times more potent than morphine. It is highly addictive and sold in the illicit drug trade.
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