Narcotics Are Drugs Derived From Opium

Opium is a highly addictive non-synthetic narcotic that is extracted from the poppy plant. The opium poppy is the key source for many narcotics, including morphine, codeine, and heroin.

The poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, is the source of opium. It was grown in the Mediterranean region as early as 5000 B.C., and has since been cultivated in a number of countries throughout the world. The milky f luid that seeps from its incisions in the unripe seedpod of this poppy has been scraped by hand and air-dried to produce what is known as opium. A more modern method of harvesting for pharmaceutical use is by the industrial poppy straw process of extracting alkaloids from the mature dried plant (concentrate of poppy straw). All opium and poppy straw used for pharmaceutical products are imported into the United States from legitimate sources in regulated countries. What are common street names?

Common Street Names

Ah-pen-yen, Aunti, Aunti Emma, Big O, Black Pill, Chandoo, Chandu, Chinese Molasses, Chinese Tobacco, Dopium, Dover’s Powder, Dream Gun, Dream Stick, Dreams, Easing Powder, Fi-do-nie, Gee, God’s Medicine, Gondola, Goric, Great Tobacco, Guma, Hop/hops, Joy Plant, Midnight Oil, Mira, O, O.P., Ope, Pen Yan, Pin Gon, Pox, Skee, Toxy, Toys, When-shee, Ze, and Zero

What does it look like?

Opium can be a liquid, solid, or powder, but most poppy straw concentrate is available commercially as a fine brownish powder. How is it abused? Opium can be smoked, intravenously injected, or taken in pill form. Opium is also abused in combination with other drugs. The intensity of opium’s euphoric effects on the brain depends on the dose and route of administration. It works quickly when smoked because the opiate chemicals pass into the lungs, where they are quickly absorbed and then sent to the brain. An opium “high” is very similar to a heroin “high”; users experience a euphoric rush, followed by relaxation and the relief of physical pain.

What is its effect on the body?

Opium inhibits muscle movement in the bowels leading to constipation. It also can dry out the mouth and mucous membranes in the nose. Opium use leads to physical and psychological dependence, and can lead to overdose.

What are its overdose effects?

Slow breathing, seizures, dizziness, weakness, loss of consciousness, coma, and possible death Which drugs cause similar effects? Drugs that cause similar effects include: • Morphine, codeine, heroin, methadone, hydroquinone, fentanyl, and oxycodone

Narcotics Are Derived From Opium

Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin^®), hydrocodone (Vicodin^®), codeine, morphine, and many others. 

All opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain. Opioid pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused (taken in a different way or in a larger quantity than prescribed, or taken without a doctor’s prescription). Regular use—even as prescribed by a doctor—can lead to dependence and, when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to addiction, overdose incidents, and deaths. An opioid overdose can be reversed with the drug naloxone when given right away.

Wait, I Thought All Illicit Drugs Were Narcotics

Most people are of the understanding that all illicit drugs are narcotics. Drugs such as marijuana, crack, cocaine, PCP, mushrooms, methamphetamines are NOT narcotics. Further, since these drugs are NOT narcotics, Narcan has no effect on patients who overdose on non-narcotic drugs. The origin of this misunderstanding comes from the language of the law. Police officers want to search a vehicle for narcotics, which to them means any illicit substance. This comes from the language of the 1914 Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act which criminalized opiates, cocaine and marijuana. The law was a direct result of the 1912 Hague International Opium Convention where numerous countries signed a treaty to control the international drug market. An unfortunate outcome of this act was a more liberal use of the term ‘narcotic’ in the American lexicon. Narcotic came to mean any illicit drug. An unfortunate historical context for these treaties is that all governments of all nations of the world actively participate in trafficking illicit substances. This ‘Great Game’ has been played at least 500 years and is being played to this very day.

Why Does EMS Need To Know The Difference Between Narcotics And Other Illicit Drugs?

In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. Increased prescription of opioid medications led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.

EMS is at the front lines of patients who overdose on narcotics. Armed with the ability to ventilate with a bag-valve-mask and Narcan, EMS has the ability to easily save tens of thousands of lives from certain death following an opiate overdose.