Heroin and opiates

Opium comes from the milky substance that oozes from the unripe seed pods of opium poppies (Papaver somniferum).

Names

Opium, morphine, heroin, and synthetic opiates. They are all 'narcotic analgesic' substances, and have painkilling properties.

From

Opium comes from the milky substance that oozes from the unripe seed pods of opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). These poppies grow wild in temperate regions all around the world: the Mediterranean region of Asia Minor is its most likely place of origin, from where it is thought to have spread east into Asia, south into northern Africa and north into Central Europe. Much of the illegally imported opiates entering the UK now come from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and medical opiates are mainly bought in from India or Tasmania.

Opium and poppy remains have been found at Neolithic settlements, burial sites and in the graves of Egyptian Pharaohs. The earliest written records were found in Sumeria and date to about 4000 B.C. when it was called 'Hul Gil' (Herb of Joy). It was also used in Ancient Greece and Rome as a sacred herb, aphrodisiac, and medicine.

Swiss physician Parcelsus (1493-1541) made a tincture of opium by mixing it with alcohol, it was called laudanum and was used as a cure-all for a variety of medical problems. In 1799 a German chemist called Friedrich Serturner managed to make a much stronger, purified version of opium that he called morphine, after Morpheus, the god of sleep. Later, heroin (properly called diamorphine) was extracted from morphine, and was even more potent. Codeine is a much weaker painkiller that's also extracted from opium.

There are a few drugs that are similar to opiates in their action, but are not extracted from them. They are the synthetic opiates or opioids, and include Pethidine, Dihydrocodeine, and Methadone.

Chemistry

When injected, swallowed or smoked, opiates enter the bloodstream and quickly affect the brain by attaching themselves to opiate receptors. These receptors are specialised proteins on the surface of nerve cells that exist to detect the body's own opiate-like substances known as endorphins. Receptors also exist in the spinal cord and the intestines. There are four different types of receptors, and they influence pain perception, breathing rate, and movement in the bowels.

Production

The crudest form of opium is made by collecting the liquid from poppy pods, drying it, and forming it into balls or blocks. It's boiled and filtered several times before being dried to make it into smokeable opium. Heroin was first prepared from morphine by boiling it with acetic anhydride, and then using a process that involved hydrochloric acid, strychnine, and caffeine.