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The Detox Guide – Illicit heroin

 

Illicit heroin

Most opiate detoxes involve people coming off heroin on their own.
Detoxing on illicit heroin may mean that:

  • you don’t have to see a doctor;
  • you don’t have to go to a drug service;
  • you don’t have to go into hospital;
  • controlling a reducing dose can be very difficult if not impossible
    (especially if you’re finding your heroin habit hard to manage);
  • you will have to see other opiate users to score;
  • if you have a stock it can be very difficult to make it last;
  • variations in purity may mean you can’t be sure what dose you are taking; and
  • you can still get busted.

If you are planning to come straight off heroin without taking anything else, things that might help are:

  • cutting down as much as you can in the run-up to your detox;
  • switching to smoking it, if you are an injector;
  • expecting to feel bad, and not sleep well, for at least a fortnight
    and possibly much longer;
  • picking a time and place when you will use heroin for the last time; and
  • remembering that once you’ve gone 24 hours without any opiate you will be prolonging the physical withdrawals if you use again.

Related Articles


The Detox Guide – Alternatives to detoxing

The Detox Guide – Withdrawals – your mind and feelings

The Detox Guide – Withdrawals – your body

The Detox Guide – Who can help?

The Detox Guide – Where to detox

The Detox Guide – Understanding why you take drugs