The changing perception of heroin and maintenance treatment drugs

the destruction, physical ailments and risks related to heroin abuse. The second framed heroin as a drug associated with enchanting transgressions and pleasure.

Additionally, researchers noted that most participants in the study described heroin users as people who needed medical intervention and who held favorable attitudes toward the opioid maintenance treatment system. However, users of heavy-end drugs were not as convinced, believing that drugs were used for intoxication-related means and linked them with the possibility of overdose, stigma and dependence.

Among users of heavier drugs, opioid maintenance treatment substances were regularly characterized with distaste and were seen as substances as low on the hierarchy of substances.

The researchers suggested that policymakers and individuals in treatment are attentive to the ongoing perception of drug risks in populations where drug use is common; the examinations can be fruitful when compared to how drug users comprehend heroin and opiates.