Hoffman and the Hype about “Killer Heroin”

~ Jason Schwartz

myth-and-facts-about-hair-removal

did not die from an overdose of heroin — he died from heroin.
We should stop implying that if he’d just taken the proper amount
then everything would have been fine. —Aaron Sorkin

Keith Humphreys dispels myths that overdose deaths are due to super pure or tainted heroin. It’s plain old heroin often combined with alcohol and/or prescription drugs.

Hoffman’s tragic overdose was absolutely the norm: He died from a combination of drugs, not from impure or unusually strong heroin. The benzodiazepines may have been particularly lethal in that they, like alcohol, seem able to lower acute tolerance for opioids, thereby turning a user’s standard dose into an “overdose”.

via Hoffman and the Hype about “Killer Heroin”.

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.