How Addictive is Heroin?

When you or someone you care about is struggling with heroin addiction, it’s normal to have questions. Some people wonder if heroin deserves the bad reputation it has. After all, the heroin manufacturing process begins with a plant.

Some of these questions may include, “How addictive is heroin?” Why is heroin so addicting?” and “How hard is it to stop using heroin?” You are trying to figure out why you or someone you care about became dependent on the substance in the first place and why you or they can’t stop using it.

Heroin is a powerful opiate that has a powerful impact on the reward system in the brain. The potency of this effect is one factor contributing to the widespread nature of its addiction and misuse. Heroin manipulates the reward system in the brain by affecting the synthesis of feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and endorphins.

Under normal conditions, the brain secretes these hormones to incentivize behaviors essential for life, such as feeding, and to help people better cope with the experience of pain.

Whether heroin is smoked, injected, or snorted, it causes opioid receptors in the brain and nervous system to react by generating a large amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine to be released. Dopamine is the chemical that gives the user feelings of pleasure or euphoria.

When a person’s brain gets used to the euphoric rush heroin gives them, they may have powerful cravings for the drug. At some point, the substance will become so important to you that you won’t be able to do everyday things without it.

When you use heroin for a long time, you might lose the ability to feel pleasure without the drug. This is because the parts of the brain that are in charge of happiness have been damaged. When access to the drug is cut off, the eventual result of this harm is often feelings of depression and anxiety, among other symptoms.