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. How 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 clostridium botulinum spores 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:
The trouble with reading and writing
- Memory loss
- Vision and hearing loss
- Loss of balance and coordination
- Problems walking or moving
- Irritability, depression, or confusion
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.
Is Smoking Heroin The Same As “Freebasing”? People smoking black tar heroin will experience a rapid tolerance and a downward spiral in 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 reasonably 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.
Aside from overdosing, one of the most destructive black tar heroin effects is the risk of dependence and addiction. Black tar heroin is also dangerous due to its unknown content. 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.
Smoking Black Tar Heroin If you notice that someone you care about is exhibiting some of these behaviors, there is a possibility that they are using black tar heroin. Mental Effects Of Smoking Black Tar Heroin Studies show that black tar heroin consumption damages the brain. This damage creates neural and hormonal imbalances that impair essential functions. Heroin smoking may make it difficult for the user to make crucial decisions. It may also make it harder for the person to regulate their behavior, especially if they’re stressed. The user may even notice that their mental health is deteriorating.
Behavioral Effects Of Smoking Black Tar Heroin The physical and mental effects of smoking black tar heroin combined with the high level of dependence that the drug causes will result in dramatic changes to the user’s behavior. At the very least, the user may be irritable and unpredictable. If the addiction becomes severe enough, the person may find themselves doing things they wouldn’t normally do to avoid heroin withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately, black tar heroin also produces a high degree of tolerance, so the person will likely need even more as time goes on.