Legal opiates

Codeine is by far the most widely used legal opiate in the world. The manufactured tonnage increased to 381 tonnes in 2011, the highest level ever reported. [82]... 

There are many legal medicines that use opiates or opiate-like substances. Most of the opiate-based medicines used today are not made from natural opiates, but are either synthetic or semi-synthetic. Synthetic opiate drugs are not actually opiates at all they are merely different chemicals that act like opiates. Semi-synthetics are those drugs that involve changing the chemical structure of a natural opiate. An example of this is heroin, which is a human-made variation of morphine. Morphine and codeine are the principal natural opiates used as medicines and what follows are descriptions of the other most frequently used opiate-based medicines. 

Vaults of Erowid. Opium—Legal Status. Available online at http //www.erowid.org/chemicals/opiates/opiates law.shtml. Accessed June 2, 2006. 

These conversations record the experiences of the first cohort of American opiate addicts to confront managing their addiction in a legal climate of drug prohibition and to be treated as criminals because of their addiction. They also reveal the limited range of therapeutic tools available to helping these patients achieve a "cure."... 

In fact, small amounts of morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, codeine, and thebaine, all opiate compounds, have been found in mammalian brain877 878 and have presumably arisen by the same pathway observed in plants (Fig. 25-10). However, there is no cross reactivity between morphine and alcohol in addicted mice,879 and acetaldehyde is probably not the addictive agent. Acetaldehyde is very reactive and may be responsible for much of the damage caused by ethanol.880 At a blood ethanol concentration of 20 mm a person is legally intoxicated, and large amounts of acetaldehyde may be formed and react with many amines, nucleotides, proteins, etc. Ethanol blocks glutamatergic NMDA receptors and... 

Harrison Narcotic Act bans opiates and cocaine in the United States. Only their use as a local anesthetic is legally retained. 

Opiates were legal in the United States until a federal law was enacted in 1914. Until then, it was legal to put opiates into patent medicines, for example, that were sold over-the-counter. The 1914 law was the first to regulate the sale and distribution of controlled substances. This law was not enacted to benefit public health, however, but to generate tax revenue. 

Medical means of getting an addict off morphine allows withdrawal with less drastic symptoms. Methadone, legally administered through drug rehabilitation programs, can be substituted for morphine just as it is for heroin. A totally synthetic opioid, methadone lasts longer within the body than either morphine or heroin. Methadone closely mimics the basic opiate stmcture. 

The legal history of marijuana laws is unusual. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of marijuana. The drug was placed in Schedule I, which defines a substance as having a high potential for abuse, a lack of accepted safety for use under supervision, and no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Doctors are banned from writing prescriptions for marijuana. Opiate-based medications, which are stronger than marijuana, are in Schedule II and were never banned.,—... 

That first time I tvas twenty-three. Before long I was addicted, although I ve always snorted dope, never shot it Opiates have caused me lots of trouble, but what they do for my head is worth it. Now I m thirty-four and am on methadone maintenance I don t think methadone IS the best opiate for mc it makes me sweat terribly and has some other effects on my body I don t like, but it s great to be able to get what 1 need legally, so that I can spend time on things other than scoring. I hope one day more people will realize that some of us have to have opiates just to feel normal... 

F All opiates were brought under legal control by... 

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