Adcliction Research tOOlp:,va.5, No. l, pp iii-vii Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by license only A 1991 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) Amsterdam B.V. Published in The Netherlands by Harwood Academic publishers Printed in Malaysia EDITORIAL HEROIN IS MORE THAN JUST DIAMORPHINE JOHN STRANG* Professor of the Addictions and Director National Addiction centre, the Maudsley Hospital/Institute of PsychiatrT, Lond.on LES KING Head of Drugs Intelligence Laboratory, the Forensic Science Service, lnmbeth Road, London Heroin isn't just heroin anymore. Over the last two decades, there has been diversification in the forms and 'brands' of heroin which exist in both the domestic as well as international marketplaces. Closer examination re- veals important differences between these 'brands'. Black market heroin may now be obtained in either the form of salt (hydrochloride) or the separated base. Importantly, the different forms have different suitabilities for use by injection or by 'chasing the dragon', rvith the salt form being most suitable for injecting, whilst many of the base forms are either used by 'chasing' or are chemically transformed to the salt before injection. Country of ori- gin and obvious physical characteristics such as colour are strong predictors of'salt' or'base' status. When con- sideration is given to the more recent technique of'chasing the dragon'. a new interpretation can be attached to some of the other drugs found in samples of black market heroin (often described as 'impurities'). New data have identified that several of these additional drugs increase substantially the proportion of heroin which sublimates and can successfully be recovered by the heroin 'chaser', and these increases can be seen in the extent of re- covery of both salt and base fonns of heroin. Finally, new policy options are explored in the light of this new ev- idence-options that include the proposed development and prorl-rotion of NIROAs (non-injectable routes of administration), and the possible constructive manipulation of the heroin marketplace through diflerential appli- cation of interdiction efforts so as to prolnote the move from injecting to 'chasing' as the chosen method of heroin use. Keywords: Heroin, black market, route. policy, control, UK, chasing the dragon Heroin used to be heroin-l00ch. When the problem of opiate abuse hit the UK in the 1960s, heroin was pure pharmaceutical diamorphine, apart from occasional seizures within the Chinese communities of an illicitly imported Chinese product. Heroin today is altogether diff'erent-of varying pllrity, cut with diverse agents (inert, active or enhancing) and in different physical forms. Heroin is now a commodity in the market place with vari- *Correspondence to Professor John Strang at the Addiction Sciences Building, 4 Windsor Walk, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF. U.K. ill