{{Short description|Cantonese drug slang phrase}} {{Other uses|Chasing the Dragon (disambiguation)}} {{Wiktionary|chase the dragon}} thumb | right "'''Chasing the dragon'''" ('''CTD''') ({{zh|t=追龍|s=追龙|j=zeoi1 lung4|p=zhuī lóng|first=t}}), or "'''foily'''" in Australian English,<ref>{{cite book|title=foily|isbn = 978-0-19-982994-1|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199829941.001.0001/acref-9780199829941-e-17913?rskey=kbEDFV&result=62|accessdate=10 January 2017}}</ref> is the act of inhaling the vapor of a powdered psychoactive drug off a heated sheet of aluminium foil. The moving vapor is chased after with a tube (often rolled foil) through which the user inhales.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last1=Strang |first1=John |last2=Griffiths |first2=Paul |last3=Gossop |first3=Michael |title=Heroin smoking by 'chasing the dragon': origins and history |journal=Addiction |date=June 1997 |volume=92 |issue=6 |pages=673–684 |doi=10.1111/j.1360-0443.1997.tb02927.x |pmid=9246796 }}</ref> The "chasing" occurs as the user gingerly keeps the liquid moving to keep it from overheating and burning up too quickly, on a heat-conducting material such as aluminium foil.
"Chasing the dragon" is also the elusive pursuit of a high equal to the user's first in the use of a drug, which after acclimation is no longer achievable.<ref>{{cite web|title=What Does It Mean To "Chase The Dragon"?|website=Serenity Oaks Wellness|date=16 May 2018 |url=https://www.serenityoakswellness.com/blog/what-does-it-mean-to-chase-the-dragon/}}</ref> Used in this way, "chasing the dragon" can apply to any recreational drug administered by any means.
==History== The practice of smoking low-grade heroin via heating on tinfoil first originated in Hong Kong in the late 1950s, and thereafter spread to other parts of Southeast Asia during the 1960s, Western Europe during the late 1970s, and to the Indian subcontinent during the 1980s.<ref name="auto"/> A report published in 1958 by the Government of Hong Kong stated that since syringes were difficult to obtain in the colony, local addicts bought street deals of crude heroin (often mixed with powdered barbiturates) weighing approximately 0.126 grams for HK$2 each, which was then vaporized on tinfoil while the consumer inhaled the rising smoke through a cardboard tube. The use of common materials for consumption of the drugs allowed the addict to quickly dispose of the evidence if they detected the police nearby, and also allowed them to forgo carrying incriminating paraphernalia on their person (such as pipes or syringes).<ref>{{cite web|title=The smoking of heroin in Hong Kong |website=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|date=1 January 1958|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1958-01-01_3_page003.html}}</ref>
== Risks ==
=== Lung cancer from natural talc === Talc is an excipient often used in pharmaceutical tablets. Also, illicit drugs that occur as white powder in their pure form are often cut with cheap talc. Natural talc is cheap but contains asbestos while asbestos-free talc is more expensive. Talc that has asbestos is generally accepted as being able to cause lung cancer if it is inhaled. The evidence about asbestos-free talc is less clear, according to the American Cancer Society.<ref>{{cite web |title=Talcum Powder and Cancer |url=https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html |website=www.cancer.org |language=en |access-date=2021-08-05 |archive-date=2022-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402063657/https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Smoke inhalation === {{main|Smoke inhalation}}
It is always harmful to expose the lungs to any kind of smoke or heated vapor.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gorguner |first1=Metin |last2=Akgun |first2=Metin |title=Acute Inhalation Injury |journal=The Eurasian Journal of Medicine |date=2010 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=28–35 |doi=10.5152/eajm.2010.09 |pmid=25610115 |pmc=4261306 }}</ref>
=== Heroin === Inhaling heroin appears to rarely lead to toxic leukoencephalopathy.<ref name="Offiah">{{cite journal |last1=Offiah |first1=C. |last2=Hall |first2=E. |title=Heroin-induced leukoencephalopathy: characterization using MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and MR spectroscopy |journal=Clinical Radiology |date=February 2008 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=146–152 |doi=10.1016/j.crad.2007.07.021 |pmid=18194689 }}</ref><ref name="Buxton">{{cite journal |last1=Buxton |first1=Jane A |last2=Sebastian |first2=Renee |last3=Clearsky |first3=Lorne |last4=Angus |first4=Natalie |last5=Shah |first5=Lena |last6=Lem |first6=Marcus |last7=Spacey |first7=Sian D |title=Chasing the dragon - characterizing cases of leukoencephalopathy associated with heroin inhalation in British Columbia |journal=Harm Reduction Journal |date=2011 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi=10.1186/1477-7517-8-3 |pmid=21255414 |pmc=3035193 |doi-access=free }}</ref> There are also documented cases of both severe acute asthma and exacerbation of underlying asthma caused by heroin inhalation, potentially resulting in death.<ref name="Hughes">{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=S. |last2=Calverley |first2=P. M. |title=Heroin inhalation and asthma. |journal=BMJ |date=10 December 1988 |volume=297 |issue=6662 |pages=1511–1512 |doi=10.1136/bmj.297.6662.1511 |pmid=3147049 |pmc=1835195 }}</ref><ref name="Krantz">{{cite journal |last1=Krantz |first1=Anne J. |last2=Hershow |first2=Ronald C. |last3=Prachand |first3=Nikhil |last4=Hayden |first4=Dana M. |last5=Franklin |first5=Cory |last6=Hryhorczuk |first6=Daniel O. |title=Heroin Insufflation as a Trigger for Patients With Life-Threatening Asthma |journal=Chest |date=February 2003 |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=510–517 |doi=10.1378/chest.123.2.510 |pmid=12576374 |s2cid=14206292 |s2cid-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Levine">{{cite journal |last1=Levine |first1=Michael |last2=Iliescu |first2=Maria Elena |last3=Margellos-Anast |first3=Helen |last4=Estarziau |first4=Melanie |last5=Ansell |first5=David A. |title=The Effects of Cocaine and Heroin Use on Intubation Rates and Hospital Utilization in Patients With Acute Asthma Exacerbations |journal=Chest |date=October 2005 |volume=128 |issue=4 |pages=1951–1957 |doi=10.1016/S0012-3692(15)52588-9 |pmid=16236840 }}</ref>
== See also == * Drug pipe * One-hitter (smoking) * Opium pipe
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Drug use}}
Category:Drug culture Category:Drug paraphernalia Category:Opium culture