Heroin is a type of opiate drug derived from the opium poppy. Other drugs in this family include opium, morphine and codeine. Used medically to relieve pain, opiates have a high level of abuse due to their ability to make users feel incredibly calm and euphoric, especially in larger doses. In recent years, there has been a surge in addiction to prescription drugs in the opiate family, with OxyContin sitting at the top of the list. Originally marketed as a strong painkiller with little to no addictive possibilities, it was later found that indeed it is very addictive, and many people who had been prescribed this drug for pain had begun abusing the drug and/or had become addicted. Buying prescription drugs on the street is quite expensive, however, and so many people turned to the cheaper alternative, heroin, to get their fix. Prescription opiates and heroin have the same effects on the brain, the difference between the two lies in the strength of the drug and how they are taken. For the purpose of this page, opiate addiction will further be referred to simply as heroin addiction.