OPIUM AND OPIATES 1

Opium and Opiates: The History, Mechanisms, and Potential of our Nation’s Latest Drug

Epidemic

Taylor P. Sowell

Cuyahoga Community College – Metro Campus

Abstract

This paper is about opium and opiates, as well as its effects on the central nervous system.
Included is a brief history of the drug that covers opium’s introduction into the United States, in
order so the reader may grasp a larger empathetical understanding of the current national crisis
situation. The paper also covers the neurological effects and processes of the chemical, and its
derivatives, including the mechanisms of the brain that are stimulated during drug use. The
repetition of this process induces the onset of tolerance, which then can lead to addiction. In each
instance that the body can self-regulate pain with the endorphins, opiates are able to mimic and
hijack that process. Chronic use of the drug can lead to multiple symptoms, including death. The
most recent Drug Trend Report from the (Ohio MHAS) Program and Ohio Substance Abuse
Monitoring Network (OSAM), is cited in order to show figures representative of the information
contained in this work. This report examines multiple drugs, the level of obtainability, area of
use, user ratings (1-10 bad to good), street names, typical users, disbursement stats, pricing, most
common ROA, and even the top cutting agents used. Finally, a small closing thought is offered
to those who may be considering taking prescription opiates.
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Opium and Opiates: The History, Mechanisms, and Potential of our Nation’s Latest Drug

Epidemic

Human kind has long held an interest to various drugs and their individual relationships

with us and our world. We have used drugs to treat diseases both mental and physical. We

have also promoted widespread marketing that constitutes the addiction problem spreading

through our suburbs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (2017) reported the following:

According the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(SAMHSA)’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), in 2016, over 11

million Americans misused prescription opioids, nearly 1 million used heroin, and 2.1

million had an opioid use disorder due to prescription opioids or heroin… Most

alarming are the continued increases in overdose deaths, especially the rapid increase

since 2013 in deaths involving illicitly made fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic

opioids. Since 2000, more than 300,000 Americans have died of an opioid overdose.

Preliminary data for 2016 indicate at least 64,000 drug overdose deaths, the highest

number ever recorded in the U.S. ([Link])

Opiate addiction has recently been declared a national crisis, but this epidemic is not new to

some Americans. However, for those without personal experience, it is important to understand

the chemicals involved and the multiple aspects of the drug’s effects. The plague of drug

addiction is spreading rampantly by the day but it was in 10,000 BC that humanity had gotten

its first taste of opium and what it was capable of.

History

Opium was discovered in some of the earliest civilizations like Spain, Greece, Northeast
OPIUM AND OPIATES 3

Africa, and Iran. By 4000 BC it was being cultivated. Opium was first sought by Christopher

Columbus, but instead he found tobacco. People began smoking with the “New World”

discovery, and it became a heavily social habit.

In China during the 1600’s, it was custom to smoke your tobacco with a small dose of

opium. Eventually they were smoking opium by itself. It was sold to the country by British-

owned (now the US) Indian plantations. In two decades, a third of China’s population was

addicted. We declared war when they tried to stop the opium trade. In the next 6000 years, the

use of opium evolved into narcotic use with the discovery of Morphine in 1804 by German

Frederick C. Turner. It was ten times stronger, and therefore smaller doses can be used for this

“miracle” drug.

In the 19th century, many substantial changes to how people were using opiates were

happening. Codeine was isolated from opium in 1832 (two times stronger than opium). In

1853, the hypodermic needle was invented followed by the refining of heroin from morphine in

1874. People could discreetly pay to receive and use a substance eight times stronger than

morphine (or eighty times stronger than opium) intravenously at their own discretion. Then in

1875, Chinese immigrants began flooding the US; the next year, racially-based legislation was

enacted to prevent the immigrants from smoking their opium in Chinatown. The drug was by

no means illegal on a national level. In 1898, a German chemist had successfully synthesized

semi-synthetic opiates and by 1913, heroin was the leading cause of death in NYC.

In 1914 the Harrison Tax Act was passed, and the drug was deemed illegal on a national

level. In the mid 1920’s the supreme court Webb case sparked an all-out prohibition. Harsh

sentencing laws fail to curb heroin’s hunger, and in the 1970’s even American soldiers were

using the drug. Nixon reinvented the laws, and created the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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FDA approved OxyContin in 1995, but unfortunately, the idea that opioids could be used safely

as an analgesic has only been becoming more popular. Today America stands once more on the

edge of the addiction crisis, in the shadow of the country’s past mistakes.

Neurological Function/Effects

Classified as an analgesic, opiates are extracted from the opium in the poppy plant.

There are many distinct types of chemicals that fall under the umbrella of opiates/opioids.

Opium and its direct extracts are called opiates, while opiates can be further divided. Opiates

can be semi-synthetic or completely synthetic. Opioids are completely synthetic, opiate-like

drugs that have been manufactured. However, Synthesized opium and its extracts are called

semisynthetic opiates.

Analgesics are used primarily for pain relief, a cough suppressant, as well as to treat

diarrhea. Secondarily, these drugs can not only subdue emotional pain, but induce euphoria.

Physically, it can lower coordination, and increases sedation. Other adverse effects include:

constipation, insensitivity to pain, vomiting, low blood pressure, respiratory failure (some users

stop breathing) and itchy skin. Addicts quite often become cripplingly dependent on the drug

with the extended use.

Users may self-medicate with opiates to induce euphoria, get a rush, or drown away

their emotional pain. Opium can be smoked, injected, taken orally, and snorted (experiences

intensifies via dose/drug administration method). Humans come equipped with a natural way to

relieve pain. We are wired with an endogenous analgesic system that helps regulate pain. This

system was discovered in the 1970s, and is triggered when opiate chemicals pass the blood-

brain barrier.
OPIUM AND OPIATES 5

The drug begins to mimic feelings and sensations associated with the numbing of the

analgesic system as the chemicals bind to the simulation pain receptors scattered all through the

body (called nociceptors). In the spinal cord, dynorphins, enkephalins, and beta endorphins are

released here, and mu, kappa, and delta receptors absorb them in different ways. However, the

tetra-peptide sequence for both chemicals is the same: Tyrosine, Glycine, Glycine,

Phenylalanine. This means that if any opiate-like chemical has this sequence, it can activate the

receptor, and inhibit and/or block the pain signals from the brain.

Tolerance/Withdrawal

The body will attempt to expel the drug each time it is ingested, and thus a stronger dose is

needed each time to produce the same effect. This is called tolerance, and there is virtually no

limit to opioid tolerance development. There are several distinct types of tolerance, but they all

develop from stimulation of the brain’s reward/pleasure center. Using the drug simulates the

“old brain” which encourages repetition and memory, while the new brain’s “STOP” button is

inhibited. The result is the beginning of an addiction process that encompasses several aspects

of an individual’s life. Because addiction is directly linked to brain chemistry and function, it is

categorized as a mental illness. Many people suffer from substance abuse disorder, and one

thing they all have in common is withdrawal.

Individuals who abuse drugs like opiates may do so for a multitude of reasons, but many

addict’s main goal in getting high is to keep from getting sick. Opiates have an explosive

withdrawal potential that makes them highly addictive. Withdrawal is the process by which the

body attempts to create balance and compensate for the prolonged use of the drug. When

constant use stops, the adverse effects on the body can be felt. Users who feel “dope sick” after

not having their regular dose, are often subject to intense cravings, headaches, tremors and
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muscle twitches, severe nausea, vomiting, anxiety, restlessness, hypertension, sleep

disturbance, and even seizures with continued serious use. Opiate withdrawal can also consist

of bone/joint pain, insomnia, sweating, severe cramps, anorexia, high blood pressure, hyper

reflexes, fevers and chills.

Drug Trend Report

According to the Ohio MHAS program, and Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring Network

(OSAM) most recent Drug Trend Report, users gauge the availability of heroine to be at its

highest level. Some say it’s just like buying a pizza. Most addicts begin using heroin when

prescription pills become too hard to acquire. In January 2017, The Cuyahoga County Medical

Examiner’s Office reported that:

“46.6 percent of the 291 reported drug overdoses seen in the past six months involved

heroin. Further, it was also found that …at least one prescription opioid [was] present in

66.3 percent of the 291 drug overdose deaths it processed during the past six months;

fentanyl was present in 80.8 percent of these prescription opioid cases.” (pg. 99)

In the medical community, we know prescription opiates as morphine (MS Contin), and

codeine (Tylenol 3). On the street, however, individuals who crush/snort pills are looking for

the semi synthetic properties of Vicodin (hydrocodone), and oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet).

Street names for these substances include “perksys” and “vikes”, and can be bought on the

street for $5 and $2-3 per five milligrams, respectively. Valium and Xanax are sedative-

hypnotics (benzodiazepines) that are taken orally by 7/10 users. In the streets they are called “v-

cuts”, bars, and xannies, and can be purchased for $2 a pop (Valium) and $5 per 2 mgs of

Xanax. Heroin is usually taken intravenously, and goes by several names including: dope,
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smack, black tar, junk, cheese, puta, goma, shit, H, horse, and boy. At $10 a hit (on tenth of a

gram), the going street price is low enough to keep users high and hooked.

Heroin in Cuyahoga county is usually cut with some sort of agent, putting the purity

anywhere from ten to seventy percent today. In the 1970’s, when first introduced, the purity

was less than ten percent. The most popular cutting agents are caffeine pills, morphine,

oxycodone, sugar, fentanyl and carfentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times

more potent than morphine. Carfentanyl, which is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine,

has helped cause the risk for overdose to skyrocket. The lethal dose for fentanyl is 2mgs, also

equivalent to two grains of salt, thus making a correct dosage for the average a risky task. In

cases where individuals do overdose, they are given Naltrexone. It is an antagonist medication

that blocks opioid receptors. Methadone is a synthetic opioid agonist that works in the brain to

reduce cravings. Finally, Suboxone (buprenorphine) is a partial opioid agonist that reduces

craving and decreases withdrawal symptoms as well as negating the euphoric effects of the

opioids.

Conclusion

In researching this paper, I have learned a lot about opiates, and their effects on the human

body. Nothing, however, has been more surprising than the extent of addiction’s reach, and this

country’s history of opiate abuse. Addiction is a multi-faceted disease that encompasses one’s

mental, emotional, physical, behavioral, spiritual, and social functioning. Addiction is a mental

disease that calls for treatment protocols that we aren’t used to implementing. Steps must be

taken to ensure the stability and progress of each individual effected by opiate abuse. During

this country’s course of addiction, gross mistreatment of addicted persons and minorities has

occurred. These injustices have created the now-national epidemic we are faced with as a unit.
OPIUM AND OPIATES 8

Its spreading like wildfire.

In 2017, the average heroin user is a young, suburban white girl or boy. But what isn’t

surprising is that just one year ago, authorities indicted three people for supplying or aiding the

supply of heroin to inmates in the Lake County Jail after one inmate of the jail died from an

overdose ([Link], Aug. 19, 2016). The incarceration system is toxic and

regressive, our doctors are over-prescribing to older Americans, who then sell the pills to cover

the costs of them, and there is such a stigma around addiction and substance abuse, that

individuals aren’t getting the quality treatment they deserve.

In conclusion, I believe that if you are experiencing pain to the extent that you have chosen

to use opiates a treatment, you should do your own research, and talk very closely with your

doctor about your options, the effects of medications, a proposed outline and time line of use,

as well as a backup plan. Opiates are extremely addictive, and one must be weaned off their

prescribed dose after treatment in order to avoid withdrawal. Addiction is a mental disease that

has already cost millions of Americans their lives, families, and quality of life. The abuse of the

analgesic properties of opioids directly constitutes the amount of physical, emotional, and

mental pain opiates can cause to an individual. To me, it seems ultimately redundant to begin a

regular dose of this drug without at least knowing these facts.

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