Harm Reduction is it possible to OD on heroin whilst smoking ONLY

[KillSurfCity]

i came up on a rather large quantity of H yesterday (enough, in fact that i still had enough for a hit about 15 minutes ago and i have enough left for another hit tonite! ) and i went to smoking it last night. i know smoking H is wasteful but i enjoy it sometimes and i rather like the effect so don't give me that whole lecture. stick to my question please.

this was the first time this ever happened to me from any opiate; i completely blacked out. i was falling asleep sitting up (somewhat normal and obviously on a wonderful nod) but one minute it was 12:30 AM and the next it was 4:30 AM. i do remember loading additional hits but i don't remember falling asleep repetedly but that is what i must have been doing.

now anyone can speculate that it IS possible to get too much in your system by smoking IF it is 100% pure, maybe? anyway, my question is this: can one overdose on H via smoking or will you generally nod out/fall out before you can get too much in your system?

 

[liftedgift]

Yes it is possible to OD on heroin by smoking. You don't have to IV drugs to overdose.

 

[KillSurfCity]

Yes it is possible to OD on heroin by smoking. You don't have to IV drugs to overdose.

well i KNOW you don't have to IV to overdose. plenty of people OD on pharmaceutical opiates simply by oral ingestion..

 

[Mass08]

If you knew that then why ask your question? You can OD on any drug by any ROA.

 

[KillSurfCity]

If you knew that then why ask your question? You can OD on any drug by any ROA.

i was asking because i generally hear that one will pass out before being able to OD by smoking H. have any of you heard of any cases of someone ODing on heroin by smoking it? i've been searching all over and i can not find one OD (unless other drugs like alcohol and benzos were involved).

 

[bingey]

With a tolerance and without adding benzos it's a very hard thing to do much safer than snorting/ IV'ing in that aspect , on the other hand there are the lighter burns and for some reason smokers seem to burn more stuff with their cigarettes (maybe cause they usually have one lit while chasing , well over here that is more or less standard practice)

 

[Deadhead420]

i was asking because i generally hear that one will pass out before being able to OD by smoking H. have any of you heard of any cases of someone ODing on heroin by smoking it? I've been searching all over and i can not find one OD (unless other drugs like alcohol and benzos were involved).

I don't see why the doctors would release the ROA used. They're gonna get a call of someone turning blue and not breathing right then if they don't make it, they run a toxicology report, find high amounts of heroin, and call cause of death as accidental drug overdose. I don't know why you're trying to rationalize this, we're talking about HEROIN here. If you go around thinking you're somehow invulnerable to ODing just because you smoke it, it's only a matter of time before it'll bite you. And you may not get a second chance either.

Anyway it's been asked and answered, yes you can OD from smoking heroin. The fact that you passed out for 4 hours without remembering anything should clue you in on that. It means you did too much.

You can OD on any drug by any ROA.

Marijuana. If OP wants a drug he can smoke all day without ODing just stick to the pot lol.

 

[oxyaddict05]

Marijuana. If OP wants a drug he can smoke all day without ODing just stick to the pot lol.

Careful with marijuana, as this opens up the door to a whole new set of problems. The fridge door, that is. But make no mistake; your snacks will be at serious risk of ingestion.

I heard the same thing OP, but it doesn't really make sense and sounds more like one of those rumors that have a habit of reaching us all. Perhaps the relative safety of the smoking ROA compared to IV is responsible for this overstatement of safety? But I can't imagine it being true, and saying something is safer than injecting heroin is not really saying much. I mean, it's heroin...and already the recreational dose is close enough to its lethal dose to make any claim of fool-proof safety questionable at best.

 

[ech0s85]

i think youd have to have a perfect set of circumstances for that to happen, including little to no tolerance and super pure heroin.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

It is definitely possible. Inhalation ("smoking") fatalities are very likely under-reported so bear that in mind when drawing any conclusions from the below sources.

In recent years we have noticed an increasing proportion of mortalities resulting from an overdose of heroin that involve routes of administration other than injection. Of 239 cases of fatal heroin intoxication examined at our department during the period 1997–2000, 18 deaths were associated with non-parental administration. There were no statistically significant differences between the victims of heroin intoxication by injection or by other routes with respect to the proportion who had simultaneously consumed alcohol or benzodiazepines.

We conclude that snorting or smoking heroin probably involves a reduced risk of obtaining high blood concentrations of morphine but still constitutes a considerable risk of lethal outcome due to high variability in blood concentrations. Furthermore, decreased tolerance resulting from periods of reduced or sporadic use appears to be an important risk factor in connection with heroin overdosing by snorting or smoking, which indicate that some heroin addicts may inaccurately assume that these routes of administration are safe when resuming their use of heroin after a period of abstinence.
Source: Fatal intoxication as a consequence of intranasal administration (snorting) or pulmonary inhalation (smoking) of heroin

There were 10 cases of death resulting from non-injecting routes of heroin administration between 1992 and 1996, representing 1% of cases. In three cases the route of administration was by inhalation, in five cases by nasal administration and in two cases by swallowing. The mean age of cases was 29.6 years, and nine of the cases were male. The median blood morphine concentration of non-injectors was 0.31 mg/l (range 0.06-0.99 mg/l). Drugs other than morphine were also detected in seven cases.
CONCLUSIONS:
Heroin overdose deaths are not restricted to the injection of heroin. While injection may constitute a greater overdose risk-factor, there is no safe, overdose-free way to use heroin.
Source: Fatal heroin overdoses resulting from non-injecting routes of administration, NSW, Australia, 1992-1996.

Studies suggest that overdoses occur more frequently among heroin users than has previously been recognised. Strategies and interventions should be developed to reduce the occurrence of overdoses and to minimise the adverse effects. Heroin users most at risk are injectors and those with higher levels of dependence and with higher levels of treatment contact. Overdoses were rare among users who took heroin by "chasing the dragon" (inhalation, through a tube, of vapours from heated heroin).
Source: Frequency of non-fatal heroin overdose: survey of heroin users recruited in non-clinical settings

Note that none of these say how prevalent smoking is in comparison to injection in these places, so we can't make assumptions about how much less dangerous smoking heroin vs IV is in regards to possibility of OD. There are also other potentially fatal complications from smoking heroin.

 

[Janellflyshighh]

Yess you can, I smoked 4 grams in 3 days and OD'd but I'm also kind of small. And I had taken 10mg of xanax and 1400mg of somas on the first day. That probably more so than not contributed. Anyways you can OD on anything, be safe.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Very possible. Hardcore nodding like what you're describing, when you can't control it and pass out...is a sign that you are inching towards OD'ing.. Had you of smoked a little more before hand, you could have crossed that threshold and gone into respiratory depression.

Smoking heroin is still doing heroin and it is dangerous.