Serious Heroin Information ======= Repeated and chronic heroin users who fail to use sterile technique or share equipment can begin to experience the long-term effects of such practices ------- Infection of the heart lining & valves, due to lack of sterile technique. Liver disease - approximately 75% of new hepatitis C infections in the U.S. each year are the result of injection drug use, even sharing snorting straws has been linked to hepatitis transmission. Problems Can Also Include = Kidney disease. Pulmonary complications, which are Sometimes infection related Skin infections & abscesses, especially among chronic injectors who suffer scarred or collapsed veins Besides the risk of contracting the hepatitis virus = heroin users also have an increased risk of getting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other blood-borne viruses. = Heroin is sometimes mixed with sugar, starch, quinine, & even strychnine & other poisons, adding more potential dangers. Because of the unknown strength and contents of the heroin they are taking, users are at a great risk of overdose and death.