Opiates: opium, morphine and heroin abuse

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At present, control is exercised over 116 narcotic drugs under the 1961 Convention. These include opium and its derivatives: morphine, codeine and heroin, that are known as the opiates.

Opium is the coagulated juice from the unripe capsule of the poppy plant of the species papaver somniferum L. Poppy straw means all parts of the opium poppy, except the seed, after mowing.

Morphine is the main active component of opium. Opium contains approximately ten percent morphine. Morphine may be extracted either from opium or directly from poppy straw.

Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is obtained from morphine through a chemical process known as acetylation. Chemicals such as acetic anhydride and acetyl chloride are essential for this process.

Codeine (methylmorphine) is a chemical derivative of morphine, occurring in opium in low concentration (approximately 0.5 per cent).

Opiates depress the central nervous system and are therapeutically used as analgesics (painkillers) and in other medicines. Amongst its non-medical uses opiates are used as euphoriants and as a means of reducing anxiety, boredom, physical or emotional pain.

HEROIN

Heroin is the opiate preferred by consumers because it is relatively potent, easily dissolved in water for injecting and penetrates the blood-brain barrier more quickly than morphine. Effects may last from four to six hours. Heroin can also be snorted, smoked or inhaled by the method known as "chasing the dragon".

According to studies carried out in Britain in the 1960s, heroin addicts, including those who take it "pure" under medical prescription, face an increased risk of death in comparison with the rest of the population.

Reduced sexual potency and fertility, which in males is impotence and in females is irregularities in their menstruation, emotional instability, lethargy and anorexia, are the most common secondary effects suffered amongst users who take large quantities of opiates.

Some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse stem less from the drug itself than from unhygienic injecting practices which causes hepatitis, HIV and AIDS. It also permits the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

It is generally believed that injecting heroin users are more severely dependant than inhalers, partly because injection is the least safe but most cost-effective way of using an illicit drug. It is also possible to take more of the drug by injection - inhalers tend to fall asleep before they reach the point of overdose.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The effects of the opium poppy were referred to 5,000 years by the Summerians. They called it "The Joy Plant". The Egyptians were the first to record the dual nature of opium. Their ancient medical texts listed it as a cure for illness and as a poison.

Though the drug was used extensively in those days, the abuse potential was low because it had a bitter taste and was only taken by mouth. Orally, the drug has to go through the entire digestive system before it enters the blood stream and makes its way to the brain 20 or 30 minutes later.

It was the introduction of the pipe from North America to Europe and Asia that set the stage for the widespread non-medical abuse of opium. This is because smoking puts more of the active ingredient of the drug into the blood stream faster, via the lungs. The drug will reach the brain in as few as seven seconds.

In 1806, a German pharmacist refined morphine from opium and found it to be ten times stronger. Next came the invention of the hypodermic needle, which could put high concentrations of a drug directly into the blood stream. It takes 15 to 30 seconds for an injected opiate to affect the central nervous system. If the drug is injected just under the skin of in a muscle, the effects are delayed five to eight minutes.

Opiates in their many forms became so popular before the casual, non-medical use was declared illegal at the beginning of the 20th Century and international measures were taken to control production, distribution and use.

THE EFFECTS OF OPIATES

To understand opiates it is important to understand pain and its connection to the central nervous system. Pain is a warning signal telling us if we are being damaged physically. The message is sent to our brain which in turn tells the rest of the body to protect itself, to stop the damage.

If the pain is too intense, the body tries to protect itself by softening the pain signals. It does so by flooding the brain and spinal cord with special neurotransmitters called endorphins, that try to stop the pain message. If the pain is very intense, opiates can be used. These drugs act as endorphins, preventing too much pain to be released.

The other major effect of opiates has to do with pleasure. Just as pain is a warning signal to protect ourselves, so pleasure is a signal to encourage us to do something good for the body and mind. Endorphins also activate what is called the reward/pleasure centre in the limbic system, the emotional centre of the brain. For example, if we succeed at a task, we feel an extra surge of pleasure because our reward centre is triggered. It encourages us to keep on doing well. It is naturally activated by the release of endorphins. If the reward/pleasure centre is not being activated or if there are not enough endorphins in the system to do the job, we do not feel good, neither feel rewarded nor pleasure. Instead, we feel empty and depressed. So many people resort to opiates, that artificially activate this reward centre, penetrating the neurones that absorb endorphins that in turn send false pleasure signals to the body.

Whilst opiates act suppressing pain and bringing on the pleasure sensation, they are also damaging other body organs and tissue. They affect the heart, the respiratory system, the reproductive system, digestion, the thinking, the voice, the muscles and the immune system.

Among opiates, heroin has the ability to relax muscles causing the eyelids to droop, the head to nod and speech to become slurred and slowed. The walking gait is also slowed. The pupils become pinpoint and do not react to light; the skin dries out; itching increases.

Heroin abuse during pregnancy greatly increases chances of miscarriage, placental separation, premature labour, breech birth, stillbirth and seizures. When a baby is born to an addicted mother, the child is also addicted and much smaller than normal. Then the baby has to suffer through withdrawal symptoms, which last from five to eight weeks, and unlike adults, babies in withdrawal can die.

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