Why do people sniff gunpowder

Basic types of heroin are known by their most common color, such as white, brown, and black heroin. However, other heroin types are less well known, even among those familiar with the drug. Among the heroin types or forms of heroin are some that may sound familiar, while others are little-known except within the drug-using community, law enforcement, and medical health professionals.

As with other forms of substances of abuse, types of heroin continue to evolve as criminals and drug traffickers create novel heroin types to satisfy their insatiable user base and entice new heroin users. Most often available in powder form, heroin can also be sold as a liquid.

Liquid heroin is typically black tar heroin suspended in water. Crude methods are used to process black tar heroin, resulting in an elevated level of impurities that give the heroin a dark color and sticky consistency. To make liquid heroin, drug dealers heat black tar heroin and mix it with warm water. They package the resulting solution in small vials, which are difficult for law enforcement to detect as heroin.

The use of liquid heroin is growing in the U. A single gram of heroin can provide up to doses of liquid heroin. Gunpowder heroin is one of the more uncommon types of heroin that has recently been appearing on the West Coast, according to a study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Gunpowder heroin originates from Mexico, which has historically been the primary source of black tar heroin on the West Coast.

Gunpowder heroin typically looks like gunpowder or dried coffee grounds. It may be a sticky powder or a solid that crumbles easily. But it can also be a mixture of powder and solid chunks. The color is usually a solid black or dark grey and may also contain white or black specks. Users disagree as to whether gunpowder heroin is a distinct form of heroin or merely a modified version of it. Another advantage is that gunpowder heroin is more soluble than black tar heroin, making it easier to inject.

Cheese is a combination of heroin and over-the-counter cold medication. It was first reported by The Dallas Morning News from to when it became responsible for a series of deaths in Dallas—mostly adolescents.

In , cheese was primarily being used by teenagers. Users make cheese by crushing tablets of cold medication that contain acetaminophen or diphenhydramine. Users then add a street source of heroin such as black tar heroin and typically snort the resulting mixture.

The comparatively low level of heroin in cheese makes it seem like fatal overdoses would be less likely than with traditional forms of heroin. However, cheese is more dangerous because it also has extremely elevated levels of non-opiates, which emergency personnel must simultaneously address when deciding on a course of treatment. Other types of heroin include speedball, a mix of heroin with a stimulant, like cocaine.

When the substance is tainted with fentanyl, overdose and death can occur. Heroin types also include the scramble. This is a mix of brown or white powder heroin and other types of substances. China White used to refer to an exceptionally pure form of heroin originating from Southeast Asia.

China White is also used to refer to pure fentanyl. Despite popular misconceptions, heroin users have several ways to satisfy their need to get the substance into their bodies. Can heroin be white? I learned that Lemon Hart proof rum At times, even liqueurs, with considerably lower proofs, would unexpectedly blaze up. The inconsistency may have resulted from the humidity on the days I tested.

It may have had to do with my efforts at quality control, which involved an occasional nip of the test product. But it made me wonder if pursers had been unjustly given the heave-ho in humid environments, or if the gunpowder test was possibly spurious altogether. One vendor of black powder I spoke with speculated that the practice might have had a scientific basis—something to do with the potassium nitrates in the gunpowder being soluble in water but not in alcohol.

My research will continue as long as I have musket powder and fingers. The proof test may actually be part of a larger maritime tradition of mixing gunpowder and liquor. Curiously, back on Earth, moondust has no smell. There are hundreds of pounds of moondust at the Lunar Sample Lab in Houston.

There, Lofgren has held dusty moon rocks with his own hands. He's sniffed the rocks, sniffed the air, sniffed his hands. Moondust on Earth has been "pacified. Any smelly chemical reactions or evaporations ended long ago. Right: Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean displays a "thermos" for moondust--a.

Schmitt believes "we need to study the dust in situ --on the moon. How does it react with landers, rovers and habitats? What surprises await? NASA plans to send people back to the moon in , and they'll stay much longer than Apollo astronauts did. The next generation will have more time and better tools to tackle the mystery. Author: Dr. Tony Phillips Production Editor: Dr. Note: As the story explains, moondust is nothing like modern smokeless gunpowder.

Moondust contains almost none of these ingredients. For example, "the maximum amount of sulfur in moondust we've studied is only 0. Jan 30, Recommended Articles. Observing Lightning from the March 23, November 16, A Growing Market at Gravity's Edge. July 24,