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LETTERS: Peter O’Loughlin Treat addicts, not the addiction BMJ 2008; 336: 173-b [Full text]

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Beware of Heroin

Hugh Mann   (4 December 2008)

Beware of Heroin 4 December 2008
Hugh Mann, Physician Eagle Rock, MO 65641 USA Send response to journal: Re: Beware of Heroin	Heroin (diacetylmorphine), an addictive opiate, creates the euphoria of feeling healthy and pain-free, and the sickness of being fragile and hypersensitive to pain. The euphoria of feeling healthy and pain-free, and the sickness of being fragile and hypersensitive to pain, are polar opposites, which reinforce each other: the euphoria blinds you to the sickness; and the sickness makes you crave the euphoria. Ironically, heroin creates and aggravates the very sickness it seems to cure. Competing interests: None declared