Morphine addicts, and

Isbell, H., Belleville, R. E., Fraser, H. F., Wilker, A., and Logan, C. R. (1956) Studies on lysergic acicl diethylamide (LSD-25). I. Effects in former morphine addicts and development of tolerance during chronic intoxication. Arch. Neurol. Psychiatry, 76 468-478. 

Morley JE, Yamada T, Walsh JH, Lamers CB, Wong H, Shulkes A, Damassa DA, Gordon J, Carlson HE, Hershman JM. (1980). Morphine addiction and withdrawal alters brain peptide concentrations. Life Sci. 26(26) 2239-44. 

Some of the historical aspects relating to cocaine are very interesting. For example Sigmund Freud recommended cocaine to cure morphine addiction and the original concoction known as Coca Cola had "the real thing". 

Several medical societies in the United States at that time offered heroin as a safe means of treating morphine addiction. Articles appearing in American medical journals early in the twentieth century spoke highly of heroin s ability to soothe the painful aches, shakes, and vomiting experienced by recovering morphine addicts, and it was widely used as a step down cure. 

Coca leaf formerly used in diverse products in the United States, including soft drinks, wine, cigarettes, cigars, syrups, cordials, chocolate tablets, and preparations for catarrh, hay fever, opium and morphine addiction, and timidity in young persons. Coca was formerly official in U.S.P. Cocaine and cocaine hydrochloride are official in N.F. and U.S.P., respectively. Coca and cocaine are controlled as narcotic agents in the United States. 

Codeine, mol wt 299.3, is a significantly less potent analgesic than morphine, requiring 60 mg (0.20 mmol) to equal the effectiveness of 10 mg (0.04 mmol) of morphine. However, codeine is orally effective, and it is less addictive and associated with less nausea than morphine. Codeine is used as an antitussive agent, although newer, nonaddictive agents are preferred (see Expectorants, antitussives, and related agents). 

Introduced in 1898, heroin was heralded as a nonaddictive alternative to morphine. Subsequent clinical experience showed it to be highly addictive and preferred by addicts over morphine (13). Heroin is approximately ten times more potent than morphine, with quicker onset and shorter duration of... 

Wikler, W.A. Pescor, F.T., Classical conditioning of a morphine abstinence phenomenon, reinforcement of opioid drinking behavior and relapse in morphine-addicted rats, Psycho-pharmacologia 10, 255, 1967. 

Methadone is an opioid analgesic that is available for oral and parenteral administration. It is used in severe pain, in palliative care and as an adjunct in the management of opioid dependence. Compared with morphine, it is less sedating and has a longer duration of action. It may lead to addiction and can still cause toxicity when used in adults with non-opioid dependency. Because of the long duration of action, in overdosage, patients need to be monitored for long periods. 

This drug is over three times more powerful than morphine. Although, not as addictive as morphine, it is still addictive and should be used irregularly, with a great deal of care. The starting material is the useless alkaloid thebaine, which can be purchased from most any chemical supply company. The first two steps can be eliminated by purchasing this particular substance directly from chemical suppliers. 

Drug abuse and dependence In recommended doses, diphenoxylate has not produced addiction and is devoid of morphine-like subjective effects. At high doses, it exhibits codeine-like subjective effects therefore, addiction to diphenoxylate is possible. A subtherapeutic dose of atropine may discourage deliberate abuse. 

The dangers of dependency and addiction clearly preclude the use of such compounds as morphine, meperidine, and methadone as treatment for diarrhea. Antidiarrheal specificity therefore is of paramount importance in choosing among the synthetic opioids and their analogues (e.g., diphenoxylate and loperamide). 

Opium has been used as a medicine for hundreds of years, inevitably creating countless addicts. Scientists have conducted a never-ending search for effective cures for opium addiction, morphine addiction (morphinism), and heroin addiction. For most of its history, opium addiction was treated as a disease with no cure, and doctors concerned themseives with treating the symptoms of addiction rather than the root cause. As a result, other opiates were used to lessen the effects of withdrawal. The addict is placed on a regimen of opiates that slowly decrease over time, weaning the addict from his or her addiction. This process of treatment is still used today. 

Many addicts, however, report that weaning themseives off of methadone is just as bad as coming off of heroin or morphine addiction. Ultimately, primary treatments for opiate addiction rely on replacing one drug for another and are essentially palliative treatments. The user is never cured and will always be tormented by the specter of addiction. 

Many of these nostrums were advertised to cure a myriad of diseases, but probably failed to cure any. However, they certainly created countless alcoholics and morphine addicts. By the early 1900s, concern regarding patent medicines was on the rise and the medical profession soon formally discredited their production. These measures unfortunately came too late to curb the infiltration of opium into American society. 

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