NCJ Number
189507
Date Published
2000
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This video provides adolescents with information on the effects and consequences of using heroin, as well as how to recognize the warning signs of heroin dependence in a friend and help that friend address the problem.
Abstract
The video uses instructive comments from a narrator accompanied by images that illustrate the narrator's points, together with statements by former heroin users about the drug's effects on their bodies and relationships. The video informs viewers that heroin is a narcotic derived from the seedpods of certain poppy plants and is injected, snorted, or smoked by its users. It is noted to be one of the strongest, most addictive and dangerous of the illegal drugs. The video emphasizes the threat of death due to an overdose, as well as the dangers of contracting the diseases of hepatitis and AIDS through the use of contaminated needles for injecting the drug. The video portrays the effects of heroin as immediate and long-term deterioration in the user's body, mind, emotions, and relationships. The high financial cost of dependent heroin use is also mentioned, which leads many users to engage in crime and prostitution in order to pay for their heroin. The video indicates some of the behavioral and physical signs of heroin use and suggests ways that friends of heroin users can help them see what their heroin dependence is doing to their lives and the importance of getting treatment. A teacher's guide accompanies the video for the purpose of leading a discussion following the showing of the video to a group of adolescents.