Putau - What is Putau?
Putau is low-grade form of heroin. Heroin is a depressant. Depressant drugs don't necessarily make you feel depressed. They slow down messages going to and from the brain and the body.
Other names: bedak, putih.
Heroin comes from the opium poppy, a flower that grows in hot, dry climates. The flower produces a sticky substance from which heroin, opium, morphine and codeine are made.

What are the immediate effects of heroin?
Relief of pain (analgesia)
Difficult breathing
Constipation
Felling of well-being (euphoria)
Nausea and vomiting
With large doses the central nervous system can slow down to the point where a person can slip into a coma and die.

What are the long-term effects of heroin?
Collapsed veins
Tetanus
Heart, chest and bronchial problems
Irregular menstruation and infertility (in women)
Impotence (in men)
Chronic constipation
Violence and crime

Addiction
Heroin is highly addictive and regular users are very likely to become dependant on it. Tolerance to heroin means that a person needs more and more of the drug in order to achieve the same effects as they did before with smaller amounts.

Impure Heroin
As with other illegally manufactured drugs, putau sold in the streets is often mixed with harmful substances like talcum powder and detergent. Sometimes other drugs like amphetamines and barbiturates are mixed in. These additives can be very poisonous, and because the user is unaware whether he is using 5 per cent or 50 per cent pure heroin it is easy to accidentally overdose and even die.

Heroin and other drugs
Heroin can be dangerous when combined with other drugs, especially depressant drugs like alcohol or minor traquilizers. Depressants slow down the body's systems and combinations can have increased effects. If the body's systems are slowed down too much, the result can be coma or even death.

Driving
Heroin affects motor and coordination skills, vision and the ability to judge distance and speed. This can make driving or riding with someone using heroin very dangerous.

AIDS and Hepatitis
Heroin is usually injected, and sharing injecting equipment - syringes, spoons, cotton swabs, tourniquet - greatly increases the chances of contracting infections such as blood poisoning, Hepatitis B and C and HIV/AIDS. Both Hepatitis C and AIDS are incurable and eventually cause death.

Tips for Staying Drug-free
Make a commitment to be drug-free
Remind yourself often of your drug-free commitments
Choose your friendships
Be aware of the dangers
When going out to unknown places, go together with friends

How to say No to drugs.
I'm not into that
No thanks
My parents would not approve
I don't have time for that herion