Heroin - a Miracle Drug which Turned (or did not) into Poison, or Some Popular Myths and Stereotypes about Heroin and its Users
Abstract
The article provides a critical discussion of selected traditional myths and stereotypes concerning heroin, its users, the effects and consequences of its use, and the behaviours of heroin users which may create barriers to pursuing evidence-based practices in addictology, as well as in medicine. In particular, this applies to key factors which may play a role in the development of heroin-related addictive behaviour, the orgasmic feeling associated with the use of heroin, increased tolerance, heroin’s depressant effect on people, the inevitable social deterioration and heroin-related crime, the complicated addiction treatment, and heroin’s very low medicinal potential.
The misleading myths and stereotypes regarding heroin seem to mainly originate from, and be maintained by, the exclusive preference for the factor of heroin’s pharmacological effects and the disregard for other significant influences, such as set and setting.