Q: Will someone become addicted after one dose? A: No. the incredible power of addiction has been much overplayed, backed up by the tragic spectres of long term heroin addicts, physcially wasted by their habits. Nevertheless, like alcohol, nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine, heroin is a highly addictive substance with a seductive physical and psychological effect. It's ability to smother and cushion a user from their lives often draws the user into a psychological addiction, much before the physical dependence for compulsion starts.