Addiction - Long term consequences of heroin addiction

[HorseBucket]

Swim isn't addicted to smack and hasn't even done the stuff in about a year but when swim gets his hands on the stuff he slams on the accelerator and tears it down the road towards addiction. Hes never had a steady enough supply of the stuff to become physically addicted because its just so expensive. We all know the financial consequences of becoming addicted to a drug like this (people sell all their shit and go out robbing everyday to feed their addiction) but what are the long term health consequences (not possible diseases you might catch from IV or crap like that)?.

Swim heard that your body becomes accustomed to it so it stops producing its own endorphins so if you stop taking heroin then you become mighty depressed. Surely that one can be reversed though. If you can change your body chemistry so it stops producing endorphins then you can change it so it produces more endorphins.

Swims well aware how constipated the stuff makes you and that can obviously lead to gastrointestinal problems if left unchecked. Swims only gone on 2 smack binges were he did the stuff everyday for 1-2 weeks and nobody told swim that smack makes you constipated so swim started getting pains in his stomach which lasted the whole day and he thought he caught a disease or something so he went to the hospital and got an x-ray and the doctor comes back with the x-ray and swim asks him "what is it food poisoning? bacterial infections" and the doctor replies "no sir... your constipated". Swim found it hilarious but the doctor wasn't amused haha.

Apart from those 2 downsides heroin and opiates seem to be relatively healthy drugs in comparison to the likes of stimulants like cocaine or amphetamines.