The Signs & Risks Of Smoking Black Tar Heroin

Is Smoking Heroin The Same As “Freebasing”?

People smoking black tar heroin will experience a rapid tolerance and a downward spiral of every aspect of their lives. Still, to understand the best way to fight back against black tar heroin, it helps to know what you’re looking at. So let’s run down exactly how smoking black tar heroin is done, its difference from freebasing, what it does to you, and everything else you may need to know about it.

Using a foil to smoke black heroin is not technically freebasing because it doesn’t use the same delivery system. People freebase to get a dose of a drug in its purest form, making it more potent. Freebasing a drug like heroin would require the use of a specialized glass pipe and the ability to get the heroin to the point of boiling. Using a glass pipe is relatively common among people who smoke heroin. The direct connection between the bowl where the heroin is melting and the user’s mouth allows for more concentrated vapor. Freebasing carries a heightened risk of overdose.

Effects of Smoking Black Tar Heroin

Black tar heroin effects can differ depending on how an individual ingests it. Injecting the drug produce the quickest and most intense effects while the effects from snorting are slower and less intense. Smoking black tar heroin works at the mid-range level, producing a fairly intense “high” at a slower rate than injecting.

Black tar heroin effects can include euphoria, relaxation, and feeling exhausted. As with other forms of the drug, users can feel impaired, nauseous, and like they lack concentration and coordination. Other black tar heroin effects include itching, constipation, diarrhea, and dry mouth.

One of the most destructive black tar heroin effects, aside from overdosing, is the risk of dependence and addiction. Black tar heroin is also dangerous due to its unknown content [3]. Black tar heroin often contains additives and substances that can cause infections and health problems on their own.

Physical Effects Of Smoking Black Tar Heroin 

Smoking black tar heroin induces effects faster than snorting it. You can generally expect to feel the effects in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. Aside from the short-lived feeling of euphoria, there are a lot of harmful physical effects of black tar heroin. Nausea, dry mouth, and heavy limbs are all common physical effects. Once the initial rush has worn off, drowsiness sets in. The user may drift in and out of consciousness and be unable to respond coherently.

During this time, breathing and heart function are slowed. They may become dangerously slow, needing emergency medical care. Those are just the short-term side effects. With chronic use, smoking black tar heroin can lead to chronic pneumonia, damage to the nasal tissue, lung damage, and other issues.

Dangers Of Black Tar Heroin

Black tar heroin puts your physical and mental health in jeopardy. Taking any form of heroin comes with the same risks. Short-term and long-term effects of black tar heroin abuse can include:

Infections

Black tar heroin can suppress and decrease T and B immune cells. It can lower someone’s ability to combat infections, bacteria, and viruses. The way a person uses black tar heroin and other forms of the drug can also put them at risk for infection. 

Individuals who use black tar heroin as an injection drug and share needles are at risk for hepatitis C and HIV. In the case of black tar heroin abuse, they are frequently mixed with alcohol or other toxic substances, which increases the risk of overdose.

Black tar heroin users were at higher risk for wound botulism. Wound botulism is a potentially lethal, flaccid, paralysis that results when spores of Clostridium botulinum germinate in a wound and elaborate neurotoxin. This can lead to muscle weakness and breathing difficulties and can be deadly.

Brain Damage

Excessive use of black tar heroin can cause a lack of oxygen to the brain leading to overdose and long-term effects on movement, mood, vision, and other vital functions. More severe heroin overdoses may cause a person to stop breathing entirely, triggering even more severe brain damage. In this case, the effects are similar to a stroke. Depending on the area of the brain deprived of oxygen, a person may have a wide range of symptoms, including:

Opioids such as black tar heroin make the brain more sensitive to pain, causing some people to perceive even the slightest touch as painful. This can prove especially problematic for people who take opioids for chronic pain.

Black Tar Heroin Addiction

Black tar heroin addiction can result in many damaging consequences including; mental and physical health problems, overdose, and family, social, and legal problems. Smoking black tar heroin, despite the negative consequences, is a classic sign of substance use disorder.

As black tar heroin enters the brain, it activates opioid receptors that release dopamine, the neurotransmitter that signals the sense of pleasure and relaxation. Depending on how the black tar heroin is ingested, how potent it is, how much is used, and the tolerance of the person using it, the dopamine floods the brain and causes euphoria.

This “rush” sends a sense of warmth and numbness throughout the person’s body as it flows through the bloodstream, followed by the depression of central nervous system (CNS) functions including; reduction of pain and other stimuli, depressed heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and the sedative effects known as “nodding off”. 

Symptoms of Black Tar Heroin Addiction

Symptoms of black tar heroin addiction include:

Black Tar Heroin Overdose

Whatever the form, prescription opioids, powdered heroin, or black tar heroin, a user is always at risk for overdose. When people overdose on heroin, their breathing often slows or stops. This can decrease the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain, a condition called hypoxia. 

Hypoxia can have short- and long-term mental effects and effects on the nervous system, including permanent brain damage and coma. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of a medicine called naloxone (brand name Narcan) to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. This type of medicine is called an antidote.

There is evidence that drug dealers may be adding fentanyl to black tar heroin to increase the potency of their products. Therefore, many users who test positive for fentanyl and its analogs do not realize that they took the substance. Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is used as a pain reliever and as an anesthetic. It is approximately 50-100 times more potent than morphine.

Signs Of Black Tar Heroin Overdose

Heroin Addiction Treatment Center Near Me

Black tar heroin addiction is a chronic disease and should be treated the same as other chronic diseases. Like those, it should constantly be monitored and managed. Heroin is a type of opioid. Opioid addiction treatment is different for each individual. The main purpose of opioid addiction treatment is to help the person stop using the drug. Opioid addiction treatment also can help the person avoid using it again in the future.

The body does go through specific symptom stages known as the opioid withdrawal timeline. The opioid withdrawal timeline varies from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the type of opioid that was used, how long it was used, and any other substances that may have been used in conjunction with opioids as well. Medically managed withdrawal opioid detox ensures the individual remains safe and stays as comfortable as possible.

Detox Treatment

The first step in treatment is medical detox. It will help you navigate the complicated withdrawal process, but it doesn’t address patterns of thought and behavior that contribute to black tar heroin abuse. Various treatment approaches and settings can help provide the ongoing support necessary to maintain long-term sobriety after you complete detox.

Cravings are very common during detox and can be challenging to overcome. This often leads to relapse. Constant medical care provided during inpatient treatment helps prevent relapse. Clinicians can provide necessary medication and medical expertise to lessen cravings and the effects of withdrawals.

Psychotherapy

Several different modalities of psychotherapy have been used in the treatment of depression, including:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – is an effective treatment that involves making changes in both the patterns of negative thoughts and the behavioral routines which are affecting the daily life of the depressed person for various forms of depression. 
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy – is a comprehensive mental health and substance abuse treatment program whose ultimate goal is to aid patients in their efforts to build a life worth living. The main goal of DBT is to help a person develop what is referred to as a “clear mind.” 
• Person-Centered Therapy – is a strategy that allows and encourages clients to understand and resolve their concerns in a safe, supportive environment.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Substance abuse and mental health disorders often co-occur. In many cases, traumatic experiences can result in a mental health disorder and substance abuse. Dual diagnosis programs treat both of these issues together. The best approach for the treatment of dual diagnosis is an integrated system. In this strategy, both the substance abuse problem and the mental disorder are treated simultaneously. Regardless of which diagnosis (mental health or substance abuse problem) came first, long-term recovery will depend largely on the treatment for both disorders done by the same team or provider.