In addition to the analgesic effect of opiates, there are several other actions that they have on the body. The effects of opiates are euphoria, including drowsiness, warmth in the body, heaviness in the limbs. William Burroughs described these feelings in his autobiographical novel “The Addict”: “Morphine first hits the back of the legs, then the back of the neck, the rolling wave of relaxation separates the muscles from the bones so that it feels like you are spreading out, lying in warm saline water “. The pleasure of using opiates seems to harm the other interests of the addict. Burroughs describes it in this way: “A drug addict abruptly gives up sex. The path to non-sexual sociability begins at the same place where sex begins. When I get into the habit of thrashing with G (eeroin) or M (orfin), I become uncommunicative. If someone wants to talk Okay. But there’s no wish to meet someone. ” There is evidence that the use of opiates reduces sexuality, and men are often threatened with impotence. Laboratory studies also show that opiates are detrimental to human social relations.

In terms of physiological effects, opiates are somewhat similar to antidepressants, but there are a few differences. Like depressants, opiates cause breath-holding and lower body temperature, but the effects of opiates on the heart are more complex. Nausea and vomiting often follow immediately after taking antidepressants. Perhaps the most visible sign of opiate use is a narrowing of the pupil. This is such a typical symptom that it is used in the diagnosis of opiate poisoning. In case of death from overdose, respiratory failure is the immediate cause of death. However, the lethal dose of heroin is surprisingly large.

Most victims of overdose, as it turned out at the autopsy, injected the drug less than is necessary for death. Many of these cases included not just an excess of a dose of heroin, but a combination of its use with alcohol or depressants. Opioids and depressants reinforce each other’s actions. Most of the deadly “heroin” overdoses involve this kind of interaction, for example, this was the case with Janis Joplin’s death in 1970:A liter bottle of Southern Comfort whiskey, which she held over her head, was both a symbol of the severity of her life and a way of liberation. When she dried the bottle, she became happier and more radiant, more bizarre … Last week, on a day that seemed less lonely than everyone else, Janice Joplin died on the lowest and sadest note. Returning to her room at the Hollywood motel after working late in the recording studio, having a good drink with friends in a nearby bar, she filled a syringe with heroin and inserted a needle into her left hand. An injection killed her.