Why do people use heroin?heroin is a drug that is usuall injected or snorted

A good question, with a difficult answer. People use heroin for several reasons, and unfortunately they are not all simple and straight forward. When you look at the populations involved in the use of heroin, you can break them up into two seperate groups, those that use the substance recreationally, and those that are dependant, and unfortunately dependant users are the ones that we see and hear about in the media. If we look at the dependant group of users, there are several main issues around the use of the drug within this population. There are health issues, what is called Dual Diagnosis, or the concept of a major health condition co-existing with the drug use, and where as this health condition can be physical, it is more usually some form of psychiatric or psychological issue. there are also social issues as well, including social normalisation, and learned behaviour, unfortunately in some cities with in the UK and indeed probably in other parts of the world, we now have third, and even fourth generation drug users. This is how the behaviour becomes normalised, the younger people within the family unit see drug use as normal, and this becomes an issue, when we look at the practice of injecting as people do as they see which is not always correct. These kids or teens would see the use of drugs especially in significant others as a coping strategy for dealing with problems , because unlike non drug users, they will not have seen or learned how to cope with family problems without drugs. Another big factor is the conditions within inner cities, and the lack of jobs or college , and this leads to people using drugs as a form of escape. They basically blot out their feelings of boredom and depression.

In Summary@

People use heroin for many reasons, but the main issues or reasons that people use heroin are

• Socialisation: they are living in and around heroin users, and the behaviour demonstrated by these users becomes the norm within the house


• Dual Diagnosis: people use heroin to help deal with symptoms of both Physical Health Issues ( e.g.pain )
  & Mental Health Issues (blotting out the voices in schizophrenia dulling the feelings of hopelessness in depression))


• Poor social & living conditions ( No Job, Poor Housing, Lack of Education)