A report on Morphine and Oxycodone

Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects.

Other opioids are semi-synthetic and synthetic drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl; antagonist drugs such as naloxone; and endogenous peptides such as the endorphins.

Black tar heroin is a variable admixture of morphine derivatives—predominantly 6-MAM (6-monoacetylmorphine), which is the result of crude acetylation during clandestine production of street heroin.

When compared to the opioids hydromorphone, fentanyl, oxycodone, and pethidine (meperidine), former addicts showed a strong preference for heroin and morphine, suggesting that heroin and morphine are particularly susceptible to misuse and causing dependence.

Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea.

Codeine has been used in the past as the starting material and prototype of a large class of mainly mild to moderately strong opioids; such as hydrocodone (1920 in Germany), oxycodone (1916 in Germany), dihydrocodeine (1908 in Germany), and its derivatives such as nicocodeine (1956 in Austria).

Fentanyl is commonly used to create counterfeit pills disguised as OxyContin, Xanax, Adderall, among others.

It is around 100 times stronger than morphine and about 50 times stronger than heroin.

3) Morphine (7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol)

28) Oxycodone (dihydrohydroxycodeinone)

Morphine is the gold standard to which all narcotics are compared.

Oxycodone is used across the Americas and Europe for relief of serious chronic pain.

Morphine, the archetypal opioid, and other opioids (e.g., codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, dihydromorphine, pethidine) all exert a similar influence on the cerebral opioid receptor system.

Heroin, is the brand name for diacetylmorphine or morphine diacetate, which is an inactive prodrug that exerts its effects after being converted into the major active metabolite morphine, and the minor metabolite 6-MAM - which itself is also rapidly converted to morphine. Some European countries still use it as a potent pain reliever in terminal cancer patients, and as second option, after morphine sulfate; it is about twice as potent, by weight, as morphine and, indeed, becomes morphine upon injection into the bloodstream. The two acetyl groups attached to the morphine make a prodrug which delivers morphine to the opioid receptors twice as fast as morphine can.

Oxycodone (semi-synthetic opioid; active ingredient in Percocet, OxyContin, and Percodan)

A minor constituent of opium, thebaine is chemically similar to both morphine and codeine, but has stimulatory rather than depressant effects.

While thebaine is not used therapeutically, it is the main alkaloid extracted from Papaver bracteatum (Iranian opium / Persian poppy) and can be converted industrially into a variety of compounds, including hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, nalbuphine, naloxone, naltrexone, buprenorphine, butorphanol and etorphine.

Compared with morphine, pethidine was thought to be safer, carry a lower risk of addiction, and to be superior in treating the pain associated with biliary spasm or renal colic due to its putative anticholinergic effects.

A study which compared 75mg pethidine administered via intravenous injection (IV) and 100mg administered orally (PO) to 15mg oxycodone (IV) and 10mg (PO), 10mg morphine (IV) and 20mg (PO), 2mg hydromorphone (IV) and 4mg (PO), and placebo (C) in the subject's self-reported subjective effects such as 'drug-liking' (how many of the subjects enjoyed or not, the experience; if yes, what was the most enjoyable part and why?, etc.) and how eagerly did subject 'want to re-experience it', and after IV doses were administered, pethidine produced the 75mg second highest rates of 'drug-liking', after morphine 10mg.