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22
The
PLAlN TRUTH
Misconceptions lbout Beroin
Al! eight of the following state–
ments have a grain of truth in them,
but they are statements about a com–
plex problem. In the final analysis,
al! are misconceptions that often
cloud the
tme
issues behind heroin
addiction.
l.
Heroin Addicts Are Violent
Criminals .
Most heroin addicts are
of the introspective, shy, insecure
type, with no previous criminal rec–
ord. They take drugs to
escape
life.
They only steal to support the drugs,
and virtually all thei r crime is against
property,
not people. The typical ad –
d ict wi ll get violent only if he feels
he may be captured and forced to
kick the habit. Addict crimes against
the person are only
4
percent of
total addict crime, while the FBI's
national average is
13
percent.
11.
Heroin Ki/ls .
Heroio is the
leading cause of death in Manbattan
for males between
15
and
35.
In
New York City ( where most addicts
and most deaths from addiction
occur), over
1,200
died from heroin
last year. But the chemical substance
of heroin is not the sole killer.
Though most heroin deaths are
caused by
accidental overdoses
of the
drug or even poisonings dueto crimi–
nal neglect, other major causes of
death from heroin are hepatit is
or tetanus ( f rom filthy hypodermic
needles), heart and lung diseases
from bodily weakness or from sleep–
ing outside, skin infections, obstetri–
cal problems in female addicts
through homemade abortion, neglect–
ed pregnancy or childbirth. In short,
all these deaths are from the un–
hygienic
lifestyle
forced upon the
ind ividual by heroin addiction, not
the white powder itsel f.
111.
The Heroin "High"
is
En–
joyable .
To heroin addicts, the fi rst
few "fixes" are enjoyable. But very
soon, the addict is taking more and
more of the drug only to feel
"normal," that is, to stop withdrawal
symptoms. There is no "high" any–
more.
Most non-addicts with a reason–
ably balanced personality do not get
high from heroin; many only get
nauseous. In one experiment, injec–
tions of morphine (a simi lar opiate)
were given to
150
healthy maJe vol–
unteers. Only three were willing to
take a second shot later, and none
indicated that he wanted more. The
investigators concluded, "opiates are
not inherently attractive, euphoric, or
stimulant. T he danger of addiction
to opiates resides in the
person and
1101
the dmg ."
Heroin is
not
a hedo–
nistic high; it is a desperate escape
attempt- from life.
IV.
Marijuana leads to Heroin
Addiction.
T hi s miscooception has
received perhaps the widest publicity
of any of those listed here. True, the
vast majority of heroin addicts once
smoked marijuana. Bur only about
2o/o
of those who smoke marijuana
ever
try
heroin.'
Not all beer drinkers
become alcoholics, although alcohol–
ics may have "started with beer."
There is oo physica1 or psy–
chological pull toward beroin except
for those who would have taken her–
oin anyway. Rather, contact with
illegal pushers is the most influential
factor that connects the weed to the
needle.
V.
Heroin Usage is Exploding
upward due to
1)
Vietnam sol–
diers,
2)
suburban middle-class high–
schoolers and 3) hippies - all now
using heroin.
·
True, heroin use i.s increasing, but
oot "explod ing"; and not necessarily
due to the groups mentioned. The
known
addicts bave grown very
slowly over the 1ast few decades (re–
maining around
60,000),
while the
estimated total of all heroin add icts
has grown from
200,000
to
300,000
in the last decade. It is important to
realize such figures are
wild
g11esse.r
- based on multíplying the number
of heroin
deaths
annually by the
arbitrary uumber of
200.
Thus
1500
overdose deaths "equal"
300,000
total
addicts. 'rhis is sheer guesswork. Very
few college students or hippies take
heroin today (marijuana is their
"bag"). The number of Vietnam
soldiers aod suburban youth on
heroin as reported by the popular
press is highly exaggerated. Most
addicts - as always - are ghetto
youth in racial slums.
And lastly, the number of known
opium addicts was
many times
larger
in the period betweeu
1870
and
1920 -
about ten times today's rate:
1
in
100
rather than
1
in
1,000.
These were the opium smokers who
were first hooked by Civil War medi–
cations. Although they dido't "main-
February 1972
- -
line," they \vere just as hooked as
any street addict today.
VI.
Heroin ls Always "Main –
lined."
Most soldier addicts in Viet–
nam
sniffed oc
smoked heroin to get
"high," as do most beginning ad–
dicts in the streets of America. The
next stage of addiction is "skin–
popping," or putting sorne heroin in
the subcutaneous tissues just beneath
the skin.
Only the hardened addicts "maio–
line" drugs, that is using an often–
stolen hypodermic needle aod eye–
dropper to rush the drug into the
bloodstream for quick effect. But
long-time addicts can't even use the
veins in their arms, due to tough
scars, called "tracks." So they shoot a
needle into every conceivable part of
the body, including eyeballs and
genitals.
VIl.
Heroin ls a Communist
Conspiracy
to weaken our troops and
our country. True, recently released
documents reveal that Cb inese Prime
Minister Chou En-lai said in
1965
that China planned to spread opium
addiction among American forces in
Vietnam. Chou said he would use
the finest of opium, and that it
would cause a speeded witbdrawal of
troops from Asia and seriously affect
the U. S. populace.
But soldiers were not
force-fed
heroin; rather, they bought, begged,
borrowed, aod
stole
for their drugs.
Opium usage in Vietnam may in
part represent a "conspiracy," but the
breeding grounds of discontent made
the victims all too willing.
VIII.
Heroin Withdrawal is
Dangerous.
Popular movies and
books have portrayed the addicts'
withdrawal as a life-and-death strug–
gle against excruciating pain. Ac–
tually, if such severely painful with–
drawal occurs, it is more or less a
self-fulfilling propbecy. That is, the
addict thinks he will suffer, therefore
he does, psychosomatically.
Most addicts will houestly tell you
that "kicking" is no worse than a
severe bout with the Ru - nose run–
ning, sorne vomiting, sore joints,
weakness, and congestion. Addicts
will also say
methadone
withdrawal
(a medica! substit1.1te for heroin),
barbiturate withdrawal and even
cigarettes are harder to overcome
than heroin.