Series: Shining a light on drugs – Episode 8: Heroin
Former addict and owner of Wings of Inspiration Sober House, Anthea Da Costa, takes a look at drugs, and the negative effects they have on a person’s mind, body and soul. Episode 8 is about heroin.
The Herald recently spoke to Anthea Da Costa from Eike Park about the dangers of drug abuse.
Anthea, who visited Randfontein recently for a charity event, has been the owner of the Wings of Inspiration Sober House in Helderkruin for the past four years and has researched multiple drugs, their effects and how they negatively affect a person’s mind, body and soul.
The topic we are speaking about today is heroin. Heroin is known by a few other names such as horse, smack, H, skag, junk, brown and sugar.
According to Anthea, heroin is injected, snorted or smoked, and it is highly addictive.
“Heroin makes people think and react slowly. It can create a risk of AIDS, liver disease and other diseases caused by infected needles. Heroin is one of the three drugs that cause most of the drug-related deaths. Clouded mental functioning, nausea and vomiting are some of the short-term effects that users experience.
“Long-term effects include scarred or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of blood vessels, and lung complications,” warned Anthea.
