Opioids in some form were used as far back as 5,000 B.C., when the ancient Sumerians referenced a “joy plant,” which historians believe is likely opium poppy.
What are opioids?
Opioids are a set of substances derived from the poppy flower. They come in both natural and synthetic forms. Opioids act on XXX receptors to produce a general feeling euphoria.
Side-effects of opioids
Opioids cause many side effects, including constipation, drowsiness, mental clouding, respiratory depression, itching, nausea, vomiting, constricted pupils, a drop in blood pressure, and problems urinating. Yet the biggest problem with opioids is that they are highly addictive.
Different types of opioids
Opioids come in many different forms. Though they all act in similar ways, each can have very different potencies and produce slightly different effects.
Morphine
Morphine is among the oldest and most famous opioids. In the early 1900s it was sold in various consumer products, leading to a wave of addiction among housewives. It was also widely used during the civil war, and as a result, a large number of men left the war addicted to morphine. Morphine has about half the potency of heroin but 12-times that of codeine.
Fentanyl
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, and as much as 200 times more potent than morphine. At least 10 different forms of fentanyl have shown up on the street so far, and it’s estimated that as many as 100 different active forms of fentanyl could be synthesized in the lab. (Hanson et al., 2004, p. 259)
Because it comes in the same form and color as heroin, and because it is both cheap to make and highly potent, it is often cut with heroin to increase its potency. This is also what makes it so dangerous. Extremely small doses of fentanyl can cause fatal respiratory depression in an unsuspecting heroin user. As little as 3 mg’s of the stuff can result in a deadly dose.
Fentanyl can be fatal when snorted, too, not just when it’s injected.
Fentanyl can also be abused by itself. Because it is far more potent and cheaper than other pain pills, many opioid addicts resort to using it. Shooting it into the veins is the most dangerous, but people die from snorting it too. They’ll often try to blend it with other substances to make it safer, but because such small amounts can be fatal, it’s hard to create a truly safe and balanced mixture.
Because fentanyl is hard to detect in the blood at the minute quantities used, it’s hard to get a handle on just how many deaths this drug is causing or how widely abused it is. But deaths among addicts rise whenever batches of heroin laced with fentanyl hit the streets.
Carfentanil
A cousin of fentanyl, this drug, normally used as an elephant tranquilizer, just recently started hitting the streets, usually mixed with other substances. A 20-microgram does – an amount so small it would actually be hard to see–can kill a person. It is 5,000 times more potent than heroin. Not only does it endanger addicts, but it can endanger first responders, since accidentally inhaling even a few flecks of it can put a person into a coma.
Effects & consequences of our opioid crisis
The reckless use of opioids as a painkiller has led to a new wave of opioid addiction in the U.S. People often get hooked on the pills and then move onto an opioid like heroin because it’s cheaper.
A 2017 report suggested that the opioid epidemic accounted for 20%’of the decline in workforce participation between 1999 and 2015, though researchers couldn’t definitively prove a cause and effect. (Leubsdorf, 9-7-2017)