Can a heroin father effect an unborn child?
No. Although heroin may cause miscarriages if pregnant women abuse it too often or too much, a father’s sperm cell will not be affected in any way by heroin (though his sperm count may be), because heroin breaks down in the body into morphine and 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM). Morphine is a naturally occurring endorphin and can be found in the brain in small amounts along with other endorphins, so really all Heroin does is increase the amount of a chemical the brain is already used to. The resulting addiction and physical effects of heroin ingestion (heroin only, this does not apply to adulterants) are simply due to the body reacting to increased levels of Morphine.
