How and why are opioids abused?
Opioids are abused for their euphoric and sedative qualities; however, with repeated dosing tolerance develops. Tolerance develops to many of the effects of opiates, but at different rates for each effect. Tolerance develops very quickly to the ability of opiates to reduce the perception of pain, as well as the suppression of breathing. Two effects that don’t really change as tolerance develops are pinpoint pupils and constipation. Heroin: Many heroin users begin with insufflation or subcutaneous injection (“skin-popping”) and eventually end up injecting the drug. Smoking heroin, the second fasted method of administration is also popular; however, the fastest way to get heroin to the brain is via intravenous injection. OxyContin: Abusers generally pulverize the pills and insufflate or “parachute” the resultant fine powder. This is extremely dangerous, especially to opiate-naive individuals, who have little to no tolerance to opioids. An 80 mg OxyContin pill, which is meant to be releas
