Ways of using heroin

Heroin is usually injected, sniffed/snorted, or smoked.  Typically, a heroin abuser may inject up to four times a day or if smoking, every few hours.  Eating heroin does not produce much of an effect, sniffing/snorting a mild effect, and smoking/injecting produces the biggest effect.

Whilst all forms of use are addictive, intravenous injection provides the greatest intensity and most rapid rush and feelings of well being.  It is slower with the intra-muscular injection.  Snorting or smoking heroin takes a little longer to get a high, although after a couple of minutes all feelings of illness will go if the user has been suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

SMOKING (tooting, chasing the dragon)

I'm not sure if everyone does this but where I come from people burn the shiny side of the foil they are using first to try and remove some of the aluminum coating.  A large piece is needed to run the heroin on and a small piece is rolled around a pen/pencil to make a tube to inhale the smoke through, this is called a tooter.

The powder is placed on the foil and heated from below, causing it to melt into a sticky tar which flows across the silver foil, giving off a rising cloud of smoke which is inhaled through the foil tube (tooter).  Black lines (tracers) are left behind, which a lot of users count to see how good the bag was or use when sharing a bag, by doing the same number of lines each.  Known as ‘chasing the dragon’ due to the user chasing the blob around the foil.

INJECTING (mainlining, digging, shooting up, pinning)

(see the Safer Injecting Guide for more details)

An amount of powder is placed on a spoon with some water and citric acid (which helps break down the heroin).  All the lumps are crushed out of the powder and then its heated until it starts bubbling (don’t continue boiling it, as this burns the heroin out). If the liquid doesn't clear more citric needs to be added, but be careful with this as it can cause a nasty burn (rash on your arm).  Once its clear, a small filter (cigarette filter/cotton wool) is added and the liquid is drawn into the syringe through this, to filter out any grit.  The gear solution shouldn't be scolding hot as this damages the veins and all air bubbles must be removed from the syringe before starting.  Once a vein is located and the needle inserted, the plunger is pulled back to make sure that the needle is in the correct place - indicated by blood flowing into the barrel of the syringe.  The liquid is then pushed slowly into the vein.  Many users then backwash, which means that when its finished, they pull back a few mils of  blood and then push back in, which rinses out the barrel making sure that they get every last trace.  Medically this is not recommended.

Once blood is in the syringe it is important to get the rest in as quickly as possible, as the blood inside clots and can cause death.  This is when panic stations set in, you do still get a few minutes to try but don't try for too long as it will set.  When the blood sets, many users will re-heat the liquid or try to push in the top part of the liquid. This is VERY dangerous and could mean instant death.  If no blood is in the syringe it can be kept, even till the next day, but this is not advisable as the liquid can sometimes set even without blood in it, depending on the gear. Your always better to only cook up when you are going to use it immediately, and if you get blood in which sets and you can't throw it away - always re-cook and re-filter it before trying again.

Make sure you know the difference between an artery and a vein.  NEVER INJECT INTO AN ARTERY - you could lose an arm or leg. You will know when you’ve hit an artery if the plunger is forced back by blood pressure, or you pull back and the blood is foamy. Arterial blood is bright red and gushes.

INTRAMUSCULARLY & SUBCUTANEOUSLY

This is cooked up the same as when mainlining but injected into a muscle (intramuscularly) or just under the skin (subcutaneously or skin-popping) and it will therefore disperse slower. Rubbing the area to disperse it can sometimes help. Be careful doing this as you will end up with permanent scaring and pocking of the skin. If you are going to skin-pop you must only inject small amounts into an area. This method is not a popular choice and is mainly used when a vein cant be located. Again, see the Safer Injecting Guide for more information on the technique used.

OTHER METHODS

SNORTING – Heroin can be snorted the same way as with cocaine and speed.  This is mainly done in the USA and is not as popular in the UK where it is mainly smoked or injected.

SMOKING IN CIGARETTES – Just like smoking a joint, some people smoke heroin by mixing it with tobacco. I have met someone before who used this way thinking that it didn’t make him a junkie, as he was more civilized and didn’t use foil or inject! But it produces the same effects and side-effects, and is just as addictive. It can also be smoked with cannabis or cocaine powder/or residue from a crack cocaine pipe.  Good if you only have a tiny amount of powder that is not worth injecting or is not enough to toot. Can also be smoked through a pipe or bong, as with cannabis.

PLACING IN THE SKIN – A cut is made on the skin with a razor blade/knife and the powder is placed into it. Used in the Far East, where you will notice people with lots of scars on their arms. They use it this way as it gets the heroin into their blood stream quite quickly and it’s very hard, if not impossible, for them to get the ‘works’ needed for injecting. The heroin over there is too pure to smoke on foil as it doesn’t run properly. So this is the best way for people to use, other than smoking it in a pipe or cigarette.

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Last updated: 16 March 2006