Opiates—derived from the opium of the poppy plant—are a group of narcotics that are used to medically relieve pain. Common opiate derivatives include heroin, morphine, and codeine. Synthetically manufactured opiates include oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, and others. All opiates are highly addictive physically and psychologically.

Are you or someone you love addicted to opiates? Find an addiction treatment center using Recoverycorps.org's search database.

A Short History of Opiates
No one knows where or when opiates were first used. But according to a National Institute of Health paper on opiate history, “there is a general agreement that the Sumerians, who inhabited what is today Iraq, cultivated poppies and isolated opium from their seed capsules at the end of the third millennium B.C.” The opium was used in religious rituals, as an anesthetic, and for food. 

Then about 1,100 years later, Arab traders brought opium to India and China to be traded. Widespread abuse of the drug in China started in the mid sixteenth century, after tobacco was banned. Also during this time, manuscripts describing opium abuse were found in Turkey, England, Germany and Egypt.

In 1806, a German pharmacist named Friedrich Sertürner, figured a way to isolate morphine from opium. Codeine was isolated a few years later. After the invention of the hypodermic syringe in the 1850s, morphine was used in surgeries and post-op pain management, particularly in the U.S. Civil War. Heroin, a semi-synthetic opiate, was first synthesized in 1874 and later marketed as a cough medicine for children.

In the 1800s in the U.S., grocery stores, general stores, and pharmacies sold opium products legally over the counter. These medicines—with names such as Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, McMunn's Elixir of Opium, and Dover's Powder—were marketed as cures for consumption (tuberculosis), painkillers, and cough suppressants. Though non-medical opium use was not considered respectable, it did not have the same social stigma that it does today. And the majority in the U.S. did not want it banned.

Synthetic opiate products like methadone, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl were synthesized and manufactured in the twentieth century as prescription pain medications.

How Opiates Work
A system of opiate receptors—named mu, delta, epsilon and kappa—attracts the opiate drug to binding sites in the body. This system controls pain, reward and addictive behavior. In the body, opiate receptors are most commonly found in the spinal cord and the medial thalamus of the brain.

Because the spinal cord detects pain first, the opiates in drugs such as morphine block pain messages on their way to the brain. Each receptor has a different function. The mu receptors, for example, are responsible for pleasure and pain relief.

Opiates also affect the limbic system, which produces feelings such as pleasure, relaxation, and contentment. Another area affected is the brainstem, which controls automatic body functions like breathing. Excessive amounts of an opiate like heroin can cause breathing to shut down altogether.

The effect of an opiate depends on the type, the quantity, and how it is taken. Opiates swallowed as pills such as Oxycontin take longer to reach the brain. An opiate injected such as heroin produces quick, intense feelings of pleasure and well-being, followed by drowsiness. 

The Most Common Opiates

  • Morphine is a pain reliever most often used for preoperative sedation and as a post-op analgesic. It's also used for chronic pain management. Morphine is usually injected intravenously or taken orally in tablet form. Common brand name pain relievers are MS-Contin, Oramorph SR, MSIR, Roxanol, and Kadian. Morphine is a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
  • Heroin is a semi-synthetic illicit drug made from morphine. It appears as a white or brown powder and is commonly injected, smoked, or snorted. A heroin high occurs quickly—about 10 seconds—after it's injected, giving the user a euphoric feeling. It is a Schedule I substance.
  • Codeine “is the most widely used, naturally occurring narcotic in medical treatment in the world,” according to the U.S. DEA. It is used as a mild pain reliever and cough suppressant.
  • Hydrocodone is a synthetic prescription class of pain relievers and cough suppressants. It's often combined with other non-opiate compounds and sold under brand names such as Vicodin, Lortab, and Lorcet. The drug's effects last from three to six hours.
  • Oxycodone is a synthetic class of pain relievers prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Some oxycodone products (Tylox and Percocet) are combined with acetaminophen while other more powerful products such as Oxycontin, are combined with hydrochloride. Oxycontin's effects are similar to those of morphine.

Famous & Infamous Opiate Users
Ben Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ulysses S. Grant, John Keats, Pablo Picasso, Sigmund Freud, Hermann Göring, Bela Lugosi, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, John Belushi, Sonny Liston, Sid Vicious, Steven Tyler, Dee Dee Ramone, Charlie Parker, Courtney Love, Miles Davis, Robert Downey Jr., Dennis Hopper and many others.

Summary
Any opiate—heroin, morphine, Vicodin, Oxycontin - is highly addictive. If you or someone you know is addicted, find an addiction treatment center today with Recoverycorps.org's searchable database. For help with selecting a treatment center, click here.

Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC46725/?page=1
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu1.html
http://teens.drugabuse.gov/mom/tg_opi2.php
http://www.justice.gov/dea/concern/codeine.html