Opium cases

The skin of sharks and rays is rough and scaly. It is dried and used as an abrasive, like sandpaper. In some Asian cultures, it has been used to decorate the handles of weapons and tools, and in making small decorative objects like snuff bottles and opium cases. If tanned like leather, sharkskin can be pliable and tough, making it suitable for shoes, boots, and other objects. Shagreen is shark or ray skin that is bumpy with placoid scales. This material is often dyed and used to make coin purses, game pieces, and other small objects. 

The synthesis of dextromethorphan is an outgrowth of early efforts to synthesize the morphine skeleton. /V-Methy1morphinan(40) was synthesized in 1946 (58,59). The 3-hydroxyl and the 3-methoxy analogues were prepared by the same method. Whereas the natural alkaloids of opium are optically active, ie, only one optical isomer can be isolated, synthetic routes to the morphine skeleton provide racemic mixtures, ie, both optical isomers, which can be separated, tested, and compared pharmacologically. In the case of 3-methoxy-/V-methylmorphinan, the levorotatory isomer levorphanol [77-07-6] (levorphan) was found to possess both analgesic and antitussive activity whereas the dextrorotatory isomer, dextromethorphan (39), possessed only antitussive activity. Dextromethorphan, unlike most narcotics, does not depress ciUary activity, secretion of respiratory tract fluid, or respiration. 

As in the case of the steroids, introduction of additional nuclear substituents yields morphine analogs of increased potency. The more important of these are derived from one of the minor alkaloids that occur in opium. Thebaine (14), present in crude opium in about one-tenth the amount of morphine, exhibits a reactive internal diene system that is well known to undergo various addition reactions in a 1,4 manner (e.g., bromination). Thus, reaction with hydrogen peroxide in acid may be visualized to afford first the 14-hydroxy-6-hemiketal (15). Hydrolysis yields the isolated unsaturated ketone (16). Catalytic reduction... 

Iodine addition to the ter- [13] tiary nitrogen of the opium alkaloids and to the OCH3 group of the brucine with formation of an o-quinone derivative, probably ring opening in the case of phenylbutazone, ketazone and trimethazone detection by IR... 

Soaking plants parts in alcohol (ethanol) creates a tincture. In this process, pharmacologically active constituents of the plant are extracted by the alcohol. Tinctures do not contain the complete spectrum of substances that exist in the plant or crude drug, only those that are soluble in alcohol. In the case of opium tincture, these ingredients are alkaloids (i.e., basic substances of plant origin) including morphine, codeine, narcotine = noscapine, papaverine, narceine, and others. 

The most widely used agonists in medical practice are the opium alkaloids morphine and codeine. However, semisynthetic derivatives (hydromorphone, oxymorphone, hydrycodon, oxycodone), whose use is even preferred in certain cases, and strong, purely synthetic compounds (methadone, meperidin, fentanyl, sufentanyl, and others) have found wide use. 

As is often the case with complex natural products, opium, the dried sap from papaver somniferum, contains a number of structurally closely related compounds. One of these minor constituents, thebaine (6-1), although itself devoid of signihcant... 

More than half (57 %) of all seizure cases involved cannabis (herb, resin, oil, plants and seeds). Opiates (opium, morphine, heroin, synthetic opiates and poppy seeds), accounted for 17 per cent, with heroin alone accounting for 14 per cent of the total. This is followed by seizures of the amphetamine-type stimulants (12 %). About half of these seizures (or 5.5 % of the total) is accounted for by methamphetamine, followed by amphetamine (2.5 %) and ecstasy (2%) the rest (2 %) includes Captagon tablets (Near East) and Maxiton Forte (Egypt), ephedrone (methcathinone) and various undefined amphetamines. Coca products account for 9 percent of global seizure cases the bulk of coca related seizure cases concern cocaine (8 % of total). 

Differences in opium yield between Afghanistan and Myanmar are due to differences in opium poppy varieties and growing conditions. Variations of yields from year to year in the same country are mostly caused by changes in weather conditions and/or, as in the case of Afghanistan in 2001, by a shift in the relative distribution of cultivation from irrigated to rain-fed land. 

As is the case everywhere, farmers require credit in order to survive, and one of the primary sources of these micro-loans appears to be opium traders. Landless farmers must lease the land they wish to till, and are even more credit dependent. Credit is extended by opium traders - including shopkeepers, bazaar traders, and itinerant traders — to be repaid in opium. Opium has become a kind of currency, with high value per weight, a means of storing value. While credit is not the only or even the dominant reason farmers cultivate opium, the credit dynamic is a key mechanism by which the market is ordered. 

The case records used in this chapter are from the Records of the Philadelphia Committee for Clinical Study of Opium Addiction, housed at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Patient names have been changed. The stenographer s words are recorded here with misspellings corrected. 

Codeine, also known as methylmorpliine, C H2 NOt H20, is a colorless white crystalline substance, mp 154.9 C, slightly soluble in water, soluble in alcohol and chloroform, effloresces slowly in dry air. Codeine is derived from opium by extraction or by the methylation of morphine. For medical use, codeine is usually offered as the dichlotide, phosphate, or sulfate. Codeine is habit forming. Codeine is known to exacerbate urticaria (familiarly known as hives). Since codeine is incorporated in numerous prescription medicines for headache, heartburn, fatigue, coughing, and relief of aches and pains, persons with a history of urticaria should make this fact known to their physician. Codeine is sometimes used ill cases of acute pericarditis to relieve severe chest pains in early phases of disease. Codeine is sometimes used in drug therapy of renal (kidney) diseases. 

From the world of the ancient Greeks, word of the powerful properties of opium spread quickly to the Romans. The Romans not only used opium as a painkiller and for religious rites, but also considered it an excellent poison. In the case of suicide, it was considered a pleasant means to exit this world. Somnus, the Roman god of sleep, was often depicted as a small boy who carried around poppy flowers and an opium horn. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the use and knowledge of... 

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