Heroin & other opiates
Heroin & other opiates
OPIOID drugs mainly act on the opioid receptor system to produce a range of effects, which may be considered therapeutic or adverse. Opioids affect the nervous, gastrointestinal, endocrine and other physical systems.
Opioid drugs include heroin, morphine, methadone, buprenorphine (Subutex®) and naltrexone.
Heroin is a potent opioid derived from morphine. Heroin is an illegal drug in Australia, and is usually available in the form of a water-soluble or white crystalline powder.
For more information about heroin and other opioids, refer to the chapter from the Handbook for Health Professionals, Chapter 9 'Heroin and Other Opioids' (PDF 157 KB). Also see the Resource Kit Heroin and other Opioids.
Large File Warning
* If your browser opens Adobe Acrobat files
within the browser window, it is strongly recommended that the
following procedure be used to access all these files: Click the link
with the RIGHT mouse button, Choose "Save Target As..." (Internet
Explorer) OR "Save Link As..." (Netscape), Select an appropriate folder
on a local drive to place the downloaded file. Attempting to open large
Adobe Acrobat files within the browser window may lead to system
problems. You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer to view PDF files.
To view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you will need to have a PDF reader installed on your computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available free of charge from Adobe's website.