Physical dependence along with the pleasurable, euphoric sensations experienced significantly affect the user's loss of control and the drug's habit-forming action. Before the 1990's, heroin was accurately perceived as a dangerous drug that was widely feared. The glamorization of heroin use by the media has created a fashionable mystique which has contributed to the significant rise in heroin use among many teens and young adults. Heroin-related deaths of numerous music and Hollywood celebrities are glamorized and mythologized even as other pop idols continue to celebrate heroin and other drugs in their music. Countering heroin chic involves receiving and dispersing accurate and factual information on the harmful affects of heroin and addiction as well as boycotting fashion magazines, music and movies that portray heroin as glamorous.
Patients receive methadone daily as a substitute for heroin.
LAAM is effective for up to 72 hours with minimal side effects. Buprenorphine, not yet approved for treatment, does not produce the same level of physical dependence as methadone. References Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Heroin Deaths in Florida in 1997, 1998. Indiana Prevention Resource Center, Heroin Chic, 1997. National Insitute on Drug Abuse, Heroin Abuse and Addiction, 1997.