Deck 13: Opioids

Question 1

What two chemicals are extracted from the opium poppy

Answer 1

Opium poppy is common name for Papaver somniferum. Opium is the dried latex obtained from the seed pod of opium poppy. The latex contains approximately 12% of morphine, an alkaloid used as analgesic. The latex is also a source for synthesis of closely related opioids.
Morphine and Codeine are the two chemicals extracted from the opium poppy.

Question 2

What was the significance of De Quincey's writing about opium eating

Answer 2

Thomas De Quincey was renown in the English literature. His first major work, "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" published in 1821, was an autobiography about his opium and alcohol addiction and their side effects on his life.
De Quincy diligently narrated the pains and pleasures of regular opium use. He wrote opium consumption gave him exquisite pleasure, emancipated him from the pain of the severest degree. He felt compelled to justify his dependence on opium, when many contemporary observers regarded him as one with drug use moral strictures. He wrote he was unable to write for long periods of time when he suffered from the withdrawal pains.

Question 3

What were the approximate dates and who were the combatants in the Opium Wars

Answer 3

In the year 1839, the British and China combated in the opium war. Opium trade was illegal in China, but the British encouraged importing opium to China by bribing Chinese traders, as opium was profitable to traders. Opium trade was legal in India (the government of India by then was the British East India Company) and the then Indian government poured opium to china.
The Chinese emperor, in the year 1839, destroyed all the opium that was to be smuggled into the country by the British. This led to a war between the British and China. The emperor of China was defeated and he gave the Island of Hong Kong, broad trading rights, and $ 6 million as compensation to the British.

Question 4

How is it possible that heroin was at first sold as a nonaddicting pain reliever

Question 5

How did the typical opioid abuser change from the early 1900s to the 1920s

Question 6

Why and when did private physicians and public clinics stop maintaining dependent individuals with morphine and other opioids

Question 7

What were some of the lessons learned about heroin dependence as a result of the Vietnam experience

Question 8

What is the effect of a narcotic antagonist on someone who has developed a physical dependence on opioids

Question 9

What are the enkephalins and endorphins, and how do they relate to plant-derived opioids such as morphine

Question 10

Explain why taking opioids in combination with sedatives is not advised.