in medicine,refer to opium,morphine,codeine,heroin,hydromophone.Though commonly used to refer to all drugs,narcotics are in fact those drugs which are derived from opium derivatives or opium synthetics.Opium is collected from the sap of unripe seed pods from the Palaver somniferous poppy.These poppies have been in cultivation for their narcotic since 300 BC.Unable to be grown in the North American climate,they are primarily cultivated in Mexico,Turkey,China,India,Afghanistan,Pakistan,Cambodia,Vietnam and Lebanon.The most infamous area of opium productionis the Golden Triangle region in Southeast Asia.This inlcudes the countries of Thailand,Laos,and Burma.This area has a historically been majored source of opium/heroin in the United States.
The opiumis harvested by scoring and unripe seed pods of the poppy.This releases a milky fluid which is allowed to dry in the sun to agum.The gum is later scraped from a seed pod and refined into the finished opium product.A variety of medications existed prior to that which contained opium,though the user was not always advised so by the medication label.Today,basically the only medicinal application of opium is in a certain types of antidiarrheal preparations.Opium can either be ingested in its raw form of smoked in the same manner as marijuana and marijuana derivatives .
other names: parepectolin,paregoric,dover's powder
forms: tablet or capsule
usage: smoked,eaten or injected
is a naturally occuring substance in the opium poppy,Papaver Somniferous.It is a potent narcotic analgesic , and its primarily clinical use is the management of modereately severe and severe pain.After heroin,morphine has the greatest dependence liability of the narcotic analgesics in common use.
Morphine is administrated by several routes (injected,smoked,sniffed,or swallowed);but when injected intravenously,morphine can produce intense euphoria and a general state of well-being of relaxation.Regular use of can result in the rapid development of tolerance to these effects.Morphine is infrequently encountered in the North American street drugs culture.However,mainly because of its availabilty in hospitals ,there have been several documented cases of morphine dependence among health professionals.
other names: pectoral syrup
forms: white crystals,hypodermic solutions or injectable tablets
usage taken orally,injected or smoked
is the most widely used, naturally ocurring narcotic medical treatment in the world.This alkaloid is founf in opium in concentrations ranging from 0.7-2.5 percent.Codeine is also the the starting material for the production of two other narcotics,dihydrocodeine and hydrocodeine.Codeine is medically prescribed for the relief of maderate pain of cough suppression.Compared to morphine,codeine produces less analgesia,sedation and respiratory depression, and is usually taken orally.It is made into tablets either alone(Schedule II)or in combinaion with aspirin or acetaminophen(i.e.,Tylenol with codeine,schedule III).As a cough suppressant,codeine is found in a number of liquid preparations (these products are in Schedule IV).Codeine is also used to a lesser extent as an injectable solution for the treatment of pain.
other names: empirin compound with codeine,tylenol with codeine,codeine in cough medicine.
forms: dark liquid varying in thickness,capsules,tablets
usage: taken orally,injected
is an illegal,highly addictivedrug.It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates.Heroin is processed from morphine,a naturally occuring substance exracted from the seed pod of certain varieties of poppy plants.Although purer heroin is becoming more common,most streetheroin is "cut" with other drugsor with substances such as sugar,starch,powdered milk,or quinine.Street heroin can also be cut with srychnine or other poisons.Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strengh ogf the drug or its true contents,they are risk of overdose or death.Heroin also poses special problems because of the transmission of HIV and other diseases that can occur from sharing neddles or other injection equipment.
other names: smack,horse,mud,brown sugar,junk,black star,and big H
forms: white to dark brown powder or tarlike substance
usage: injected,smoked or inhale
Chemically dissimilar to heroin or morphine.Methadone was initially developed by German scientists during World War II due to a shortage of morphine.Primarily used to control narcotic addiction and the attendant withdrawal symptoms,the effects of administration can last up to 24 hours.
The 1960'ssaw a heralding of methadone as a cure-all for heroin addiction.Through certainly helpful in some cases,methadone too caries a capacity for tolerance and addiction. This has led in some cases to the heroin addict just trading addictions from a drug to another.Normally administrated by mouth in liquid form ,methadone can also be injected.