Drugs opium

The development of the first effective analgesic drug, opium, was almost certainly adventitious, and occurred in prehistoric times. The use of the dried exudate from slitting the immature capsule of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, as an analgesic, sedative and euphoriant, has a long folkloric history. Isolation of the principal active component morphine (1) as a pure crystalline compound represented one of the early landmarks in organic chemistry. 

One of the oldest of all drugs, opium was used in prehistoric times the ancient Greeks recognized its pain-rclicving properties. Throughout history opium has been an important item of commerce, and in some periods it was the most widely used medical drug. 

OPIUM The drug Opium is the latex from unripe capsules of Papaver somniferum L., family Papaveraceae, dried in the air. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L., has been known for several thousands of years as a pain-killing and narcotic remedy. (Fig. 21) It is an annual plant, 1-1.5 m in height with... 

HUMAN HEALTH RISKS lARC Group 2B possible human carcinogen Acute Risks headache, nausea, loss of appetite, pulmonary edema, brain effects similar to those produced by the drug opium Chronic Risks tumors in animals, may damage the liver and kidneys. 

The importance of alkaloids since the birth of human civilization is well illustrated by the drug opium, which is obtained from opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and contains... 

Estimation of Other Alkaloids in Opium. Of the other alkaloids the most important is codeine, and processes for its estimation in opium have been described by Cespari, Andrews,and Annett and co-workers methods for its assay in admixture with other drugs in tablets and other products are also available. The estimation of papaverine has been described by Issekutz,i and of narcotine by Snesarov. As to methods for the separation and estimation of two or more of these subsidiary alkaloids, codeine and narcotine have been dealt with by van der Widen,narcotine and papaverine by Annett and Bose, ( and the bromination of codeine and narceine has been studied by Vaisberg et al. with a view to estimation by this means. 

The amount of morphine in commercial opium varies from 3 to 25 per cent. In Macedonian and Turkey opiums the pereentage is usually 15 to 21, and in the Persian drug 10 to 12. Indian opium, as prepared for smoking, may eontain 4 to 6 per cent., but as exported for the manu-... 

Studies on Drug Addiction, with special reference to Chemical Structure of Opium Derivatives and Allied Synthetic Substances and their Physiological Action, by Small, Eddy, Mosettig and Himmelsbach. ... 

Although morphine has been prepared by total synthesis, the complexity of the molecule makes such an approach unattractive on a commercial scale. The drug in fact is obtained by fractionation of opium obtained from the poppy morphine in turn is used as starting material for various derivatives. If it were not for the importance of these drugs in the clinic, some progress might have been made in eradication of the plant. 

In the strict sense, opiates are drugs which are derived from opium and include the natural products morphine, codeine, thebaine and many semi-synthetic congeners derived from them. In the wider sense, opiates are morphine-like drugs with non-peptidic structures. The old term opiates is now more and more replaced by the term opioids which applies to any substance, whether endogenous or synthetic, pqrtidic or non-peptidic, that produces morphine-like effects through an action on opioid receptors. 

Morphine, when extracted from raw opium and treated chemically, yields the semisynthetic narcotics hydromorphone, oxymorphone, oxycodone, and heroin. Heroin is an illegal narcotic in the United States and is not used in medicine. Synthetic narcotics are those man-made analgesics with properties and actions similar to the natural opioids. Examples of synthetic narcotic analgesics are methadone, levorphanol, remifen-tanil, and meperidine Additional narcotics are listed in the Summary Drug Table Narcotic Analgesics. 

In the mid-nineteenth century, it was the custom for doctors to frequently prescribe morphine (first isolated from opium by Friedrich Serturner in 1806) and other opium preparations. Morphine did not have a major impact on medical practice until the invention of the hypodermic needle in 1840. Soldiers illness was recognized after the Civil War when more than 50,000 veterans became dependent on morphine as a result of treatment for combat injuries (Musto 1987). The public also had ready access to opium and purified drugs in grocery stores and pharmacies. Medicinal mixtures and nostrums, usually unlabelled as to contents, often contained opium or morphine. By the end of the century, many physicians had come to recognize that chronic use of morphine was a disorder (morphinism), although others in society... 

The term opioid refers to any exogenous substance that acts as an agonist at any of several receptors. Opioid antagonists are drugs that bind to a receptor but produce no actions. The poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, from which opium is obtained, is grown in many areas of the world. Morphine constitutes 10% of opium, and codeine can be obtained direcdy from opium. Semisynthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone are obtained directly or indirectly from morphine. There are other distinct chemical classes of drugs with opioid actions, including the methadones. 

When Montgomery and I published our article, we thought we had disproven another theory of placebo effects - the theory that placebo effects are produced by the release of endorphins in the brain. In 1978 researchers at the University of California in San Francisco discovered that when placebos reduce pain, they may stimulate the release of endorphins.18 Endorphins, the existence of which had only been discovered a few years earlier, are opioids that are produced naturally by the brain. Just like the opiates that are derived from opium - morphine and codeine, for example - endorphins reduce the sensation of pain. The University of California researchers reasoned that if placebos can mimic the effects of opiate drugs, maybe they do so by stimulating the release of the brain s endogenous opioids. 

The British had two major conflicts with the Chinese over opium, in fact, they were called the Opium Wars in 1839 and 1856. These wars would force the Chinese to import opium to help control the population. The fact that opium, cocaine and their synthetic derivatives are illegal has only increased their value. In the same way that the Prohibition Act of the 1930 s allowed organized crime to get a great tax free start, the drug dealers of today have enormous sums of wealth to legitimately buy into any kind of business or government in the world. 

Inhalation (IH) The administration of volatile gases and vapours, followed by drug absorption in the lungs or nasal mucosa. Examples include general anaesthetics like nitrous oxide, nicotine from the tar droplets in tobacco smoke, cannabinoids from cannabis leaf smoke and various opiates from burning opium resin. 

Opiate A drug related to morphine, derived from opium. 

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