The life expectancy tells us something about their lifestyle but nothing about the effects of a specific drug. Heroin is a bit different than opium which is what I was writing about. Absolutely no ill effects are attributable to the use of heroin or opium, only the attendant lifestyle. Before it was illegal literally hundreds of thousands of "middle class" Americans were addicted to opium and they were employable as well as nice and pink and healthy. Emaciated pale junkies are the result of their lifestyle. There is a huge pharmalogical difference between meth and heroin and yet hardcore users face similar problems caused by living in an underground illegal society. The indirect health effects can not be properly attributed to opium itself. The chemical dependency is absolutely not a form of brain damage. As I wrote earlier opium causes no physical harm in any manner. No brain damage, no liver damage, even smoking it causes no lung damage since when smoked, unlike pot, you don't actually burn it you vaporize it and breath in the "steam" of the opium. It depresses respiratory function, which is sometimes what kills in an OD, but it does not impair lung function. More often death is caused by choking on your vomit. Opium is no more toxic than water. Chemical dependency is looked down upon as some sort of character weakness in most societies but it the dependency is not physically harmful to the dependent individual. Societies reaction to opium is certainly dangerous to the user but opium itself is not. It is completely nontoxic and kills absolutely no cells. As I wrote earlier it is the safest mind altering substance we know of.
John Thornton