What Is Heroin Made Of?

Heroin is simply an organic, or plant-derived, compound that combines morphine with acetic acid (vinegar) or acetic anhydride (an acid). It is processed from the same raw gum opium that can produce morphine, codeine, or thebaine. Farmers drain the sap from ripening opium poppies and boil it down into a sticky gum. The gum is treated in a water base with chemicals such as lime, ammonium chloride, activated charcoal, and hydrochloric acid. This causes the morphine to leach out of the gum.

When this product is dry, it is shaped into bricks. The bricks are then sent to other secret laboratories that mix the morphine with acetic anhydride, more activated charcoal, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Once again the particles are allowed to settle in water. When the particles have dried, they are treated with hydrochloric acid, producing the heroin hydrochloride that is sold on the streets as a white powder.

Most of the white powder heroin sold in the United States comes from Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The product sold to users is never pure heroin. Instead the heroin is "cut" with a number of other water-soluble substances, including sugar, over-the-counter painkillers like acetaminophen (Tylenol), TRANQUILIZERS, baking soda, powdered milk, starch, and talcum powder. Some batches of heroin reportedly have been cut with rat poison or laundry detergent. CUTTING reduces the purity of the product and allows the dealer to stretch the supply. It also provides the user with an uncertain dosage that can range from 70 percent heroin to 20 percent heroin.

In Mexico, Central America, and South America, underground growers and chemists produce "tar heroin" that comes to the American BLACK MARKET as a sticky black or brown substance with an odor of vinegar.

Fugitive accused of driving with kids in car after taking cocaine. MIDDLESEX COUNTY,New Jersey —A man charged with child endangerment and possession of cocaine after allegedly ...

WC meth lab busted On Saturday, July 19, 2008, Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators, as part of ...

Home meth lab explodes BROKEN ARROW - Two Broken Arrowans have been arrested in connection with the fire; a ...

Indictments returned against neighborhood’s meth-making suspects A Palo Pinto County Grand Jury indicted 10 individuals Wednesday on 10 charges, including five ...

Couple in prison for meth lab CASSOPOLIS - Two methamphetamine lab operators were put behind prison bars on Friday morning in ...

Young man stole stereos to pay for his methadone habit SOMERSWORTH - The thought of getting arrested for shoplifting didn�t enter 22-year-old Chris�s mind when ...

Front line in the fight against heroin addiction SEABROOK - Paramedic Kevin Janvrin has found them parked in cars outside local stores, in ...

Escaping the clutches of heroin addiction SOMERSWORTH - Terri Provencher, a 39-year-old mother and recovering heroin addict from Seabrook, has tried ...

Drugs Heroin Mexico Drug Growers Switching to Heroin Monday April 21, 2003 6:49 AM TLAPA DE COMONFORT, Mexico ...

Parents confront heroin nightmare By David Wecker Post staff reporter In an extraordinary meeting marked with heated accusations, frustration and ...

Heroin Addiction She was the hardest worker they knew. Melissa Lockovitch toiled the 2-10 p.m. shift as ...

DEA Dismantels Heroin Traffic SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guillermo Gil, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico ...