Commonly Abused Drugs

Review this page which describes the acute effects and the health risks of both legal and illegal drugs.

An opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant.

Street Names	Commercial Names	Common Forms	Common Ways Taken	DEA Schedule
Brown sugar, China White, Dope, H, Horse, Junk, Skag, Skunk, Smack, White Horse With OTC cold medicine and antihistamine: Cheese	No commercial uses	White or brownish powder, or black sticky substance known as “black tar heroin”	Injected, smoked, snorted	I

Possible Health Effects
Short-term	Euphoria; warm flushing of skin; dry mouth; heavy feeling in the hands and feet; clouded thinking; alternate wakeful and drowsy states; itching; nausea; vomiting; slowed breathing and heart rate.
Long-term	Collapsed veins; abscesses (swollen tissue with pus); infection of the lining and valves in the heart; constipation and stomach cramps; liver or kidney disease; pneumonia.
Other Health-related Issues	Pregnancy: miscarriage, low birth weight, neonatal abstinence syndrome. Risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases from shared needles.
In Combination with Alcohol	Dangerous slowdown of heart rate and breathing, coma, death.
Withdrawal Symptoms	Restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), leg movements.
Treatment options
Medications	Methadone Buprenorphine Naltrexone (short and long-acting forms)
Behavioral Therapies	Contingency management, or motivational incentives 12-Step facilitation therapy