Heroin addiction treatment

Heroin Treatment in South Dakota

The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health states that there are 23.5 million people in the United States that require substance abuse treatment. This amounts to almost ten percent of the total population in need of drug rehab and the rate is very likely close to the same in South Dakota.

In 2003, there were a reported 52 drug treatment and addiction rehabilitation centers in the state of South Dakota alone. These centers combined to treat 2,083 clients for alcohol and/or drug related problems.
Heroin is typically available only in very small quantities in South Dakota.

How heroin exactly works was unknown for a long time. What was known only was that, like opium and morphine, it depressed the central nervous system (CNS): the brain and spinal cord.

Heroin is an opioid. Opioids are very powerful painkiller. The body and the brain are packed with opioid receptors, meant for endorphins, the body's own natural pain-killing substances that is produced in case of emergency moments of shock or injury.

Heroin mimicks endorphines and binds rapidly with endorphin receptors, extending and magnifying their natural painkilling effect. The result is a surge of pleasurable sensation, or "rush." This rush is normally accompanied by a warm feeling and a sense of well-being.

When heroin is first infiltrated into an individual's body, the brain's natural chemistry reacts with the heroin toxins to create what heroin users describe as a feeling of 'euphoria'. Other heroin effects can also include dizziness, feeling as though the body has become heavy and the individual cannot move, as well as nausea and a change in skin temperature. In addition, heroin users will also feel tired, or as though the world no longer exists around the person and their ability to function both mentally and physically will diminish. Heroin's effects damage the nervous system and can also cause short and long term harm to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Because of the toxins in the substance, as well as the way that it is taken into the body, heroin is a drug that many individuals overdose on. While lucky people come out of the overdose alive and unharmed, others either die or have severe and permanent damage as a result of the overdose.