The main character inthe book I am writing is a heroin addict (among other things) and she eventually overdoses on it. My problem is that I've never done heroin, quite frankly it scares me just a wee bit. So I can't exactly write about something I don't know, right? Oh and did I mention, that it's set back in the1960's? Yeah, so if anyone knows any terms, slang, the kinds of things they used back then to make and take it, anything you got basically. Or if you could refer to to somewhere that I could get some answers, real answers, not some BS I could get off WebMD.
This book is driving me crazy, it's in my head, running around and around and I've got it all, but I just need some details. So Please PLEASE if anyone could help...
This is just off the top of my head. Feel free to PM me or whatever...
Slang terms:
Smack
judas
schmeck
china white
dope
H
Horse
Joy Powder
Junk
tar
white horse
Heroin can be snorted or injected into veins. It can also be smoked, called "chasing the dragon"
It is very, very addictive. Withdrawl usually begins 6 or more hours after the last hit.
Symptoms include:
-vomiting (extreme)
-sweating
-general achy feeling
-anxiety
-depression
-cold sweats
-fever
- "Itchy blood"- a compulsive scratching of the skin that causes the person in withdrawl to scratch their skin bloody
I heard overdosing on heroin its getting so relaxed you stop breathing. But never done it so can't really say much. I suppose no-one has overdosed and survived it.
Okay. I can help a little with the overdose symptoms, and such...but be forewarned, this info comes from similar sources to webMD. But it's Voxina's paraphrased version...
lots and lots of dizziness, exhilaration and nausea. Pain too, like major headache... Throwing up everything they had for dinner and possibly heart stopping, so if you want your character to be landed in the hospital, well, that's a way to do it. also, if you want a tragic ending with an untimely death, they could just overdose so much they kill themselves almost immediately. Heroin is a compound made from the opium poppy, a narcotic. It's made by boiling or stewing or brewing opium milk---I think. I saw a picture of it on History Channel, and it was this big cauldron of whitish-red-orange stuff that bubbled and looked like magma. Scary looking manufacturing process, much more devastating effects on the user. That's about all I know.. It was delivered by needle. Your MC could also get AIDS by using an unsanitary syringe. If they wanted to commit suicide, they could just overdose so much that they would stop breathing, their heart would eventually stop too. Also, oxygen deprivation in the time they were out with it in their system could cause brain cell death, so they could get dementia because of that. Also, general irritability as well. They also might be so addicted that they'd steal money-and kill to steal money-to buy the drug. Also, for the history, they might be able to steal some from an old lady's house if she kept it as part of a patent medicine closet that she'd had for thirty years or something. Narcotics were used in over-the-counter medicines before the laws were made to stop use. Go to History Channel.com for more info...that's all I can remember of the show I saw.
--Voxina
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