Opiate pain relievers

The gold standard of opiate pain relievers is morphine. It was one of the first compounds extracted, isolated, and purified from the opium poppy, and it continues to be one of the most widely used pain relievers today. Morphine and other opiate drugs such as heroin, codeine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone have very similar chemical structures (Figure 3.2). However, other opiates such as fentanyl and meperidine (Demerol) have a slightly different structure (Figure 3.3). 

Table 3.1 on pages 44-45 lists commonly used opiate pain relievers. All opiates require a doctor s prescription. The medications differ primarily by their duration of action and the dose required to obtain sufficient analgesia. 

Normally, opiate pain relievers are prescribed to nonhospitalized patients in the form of a pill or tablet, which can take 30 to 60 minutes to start working. If the patient is in the hospital, opiates are usually given intravenously by a doctor or nurse. 

The risk of becoming addicted to an opiate pain reliever increases the longer the drug is taken (over a period of weeks or... 

Although not everyone becomes severely addicted to opiate pain relievers, there are certain people for whom the drugs become irresistible. The addiction may drive these ordinarily upstanding individuals to criminal behavior to satisfy their craving and compulsive need for these medications. 

Figure 3.7 This graph shows the estimated number (in millions) of people who have used various opiate pain relievers for nonmedical purposes at some point in their lifetime (as of 2002). Considering the dangers of taking opiate drugs for nonmedical reasons, these figures are alarming.

As seen in Figure 3.7, the most widely abused opiate pain relievers are Darvocet , Darvon , and Tylenol with codeine , followed by Vicodin, Lortab , and Lorcet . Methadone is the least addicting of the opiate pain relievers and stays in the body the longest. Because of this, methadone is often used as a substitute for morphine, heroin, and other more addictive opiates to wean people off the drug to which they are addicted. 

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