Essay On Morphine

Heroin, a powerful narcotic, acts upon the brain as a painkiller, increasing physical addiction and ongoing emotional dependence (Schaffer Library of…). Heroin has many challenging and highly risky effects on the user, all the more hazardous if overdosing is present. This extremely dangerous drug, heroin, will never cease being used, but may cease the existence of an individual.

A lot of people who take it like this die of an overdose. Some signs of a person being overdosed on morphine is Constricted, pinpoint, or small pupils (black part of the eye) decreased awareness or responsiveness, extreme drowsiness, fever, increased blood pressure, increased thirst, lower back or side pain, muscle cramps or spasms, muscle pain or stiffness, no muscle tone or movement, severe sleepiness, swelling of the face, fingers, or lower legs, weight gain. These are some of the many side affects you can get from being on an overdose for morphine. Cramps, difficulty having a bowel movement (stool), drowsiness, false or unusual sense of well-being, relaxed and calm feeling, sleepiness or unusual drowsiness, weight loss are also very common side effects from taking morphine. This is a drug that helps you with one thing and damages more things so people take it to their own risk. One of the main reasons why people die of overdose with morphine is because they buy it illegally from the streets. That morphine from the streets is not the medical safe and regulated one. That one you can buy from someone without a prescription is not safe because sometimes it is mixed with other drugs or chemicals to make it last longer or cheaper. Most of the deaths related to morphine overdose are because it was purchased illegally off the street. This is why people say morphine is bad because you can buy it illegally and they always hear that its bad and it’s what drug addicts use but what those people don’t know is that people who are severely injured or have a terminal disease take it to help them with their pain take it. That doesn’t make them drug addicts or bad people. This is a drug that causes a lot controversy everywhere because of all the misconceptions that there are going around about it being bad and

To begin with, studies show that, “In 12 states there are more opioid prescriptions than people” (Brooks). Abuse and addiction of substances like opioids are becoming more of an issue with each generation. People are allowing for these substances to control them. When will people be satisfied with their life enough to not get dragged by this demon. But who are we to blame?

After Heroin is injected or inhaled, it crosses the blood brain barrier, and once in the brain, it is converted to morphine and will bind with opioid receptors. This transferring is what gives the user their rush, and the more of the drug, the faster it binds and the stronger the rush. Heroin

Opioids are killing Americans throughout the world and also decreasing their lifespans overall. According to a medical report from JAMA Opioids take about 3 months off of our lives. In 2015 life expectancy in the US decreased since the year 1993. Deaths from drug overdose continue to get higher and according to The Center for Disease control there were 64,000 deaths from a drug overdose in 2016. The amount of deaths related to Opioid’s has multiplied by four since 1999. One of the main causes for opioid overdose deaths has been from heroin and fentanyl. According to the CDC Fentanyl is the number one cause of opioid overdose. (CNN)

Opioids are classified as opium like compounds; some (ex. codeine and morphine) exist naturally in opium, which is a gummy substance derived from the seedpod of the opium poppy, indigenous to Southern Asia. Other opioids are of the synthetic category, such as methadone or fentanyl (opioidaddictionsource.com). Though the use of prescription opioids may be well intended, due to their effect on the brain chemistry, it is fairly common for one to become addicted to them; America is amidst a raging prescription opioid epidemic, in fact.

The reason that this drug can be so intense and dangerous is because it falls into the category II narcotics. Many commonly known narcotics include opium, morphine, and heroin. The addiction rate of any of these drugs is phenomenal. Narcotics are central nervous system depressants that relieve pain without causing the loss of consciousness. They can also produce feelings drowsiness, mental confusion and euphoria. The analgesic effects of narcotics result from the drugs’ effects on the emotional aspects of pain. Many patients that experience intense pain say that after the administration of the narcotic, their pain is as intense as ever but no longer as bothersome. Because narcotics block the emotional side effects of pain they make it much more bearable.

Opioids, otherwise known as prescription pain medication, are used to treat acute and chronic pain. They are the most powerful pain relievers known. When taken as directed they can be safe and effective at managing pain, however, opioids can be highly addictive. Ease of access helps people get pain medications through their physician or by having friends and family get the medication for them. With their ease of access and being highly addictive the use and misuse of opioids have become a growing epidemic. Patients should be well educated on the affects opioid use can have. More importantly instead of the use of opioids, physicians should look into alternative solutions for pain management. While pain medication is helpful with chronic pain, it is also highly addictive, doctors should be more stringent to whom and how often they prescribe pain medication.

Next, there is an extensive history of opioid use for pain management, and other symptom management as well. Morphine can be traced back to Civil War veterans trying to manage pain and, consequently, being addicted. “‘Drugs were already on the scene and being consumed at alarming rates long before the start of the war,’ said Mark A Quinoes, a scholar who studied drug abuse during the Civil War.” It was not until 1898 that heroin was on the market for commercial sale, considered a “wonder drug,” it began to spread in use along with users that found out injecting it would increase its effects. There was little known about these new opioids, they were even used as cough suppressants. Heroin worked for what is was being used as, a pain suppressant, and there were few other options. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act imposed a tax on importing and selling opium or coca leaves. In 1924 doctors were avoiding using opioids after being aware of their addictive nature which lead heroin becoming illegal. Without this opioid, doctors had to get creative when treating World War II soldiers, this sparked research into nerve blockers. These nerve blockers managed pain without the use of surgery. This was, unfortunately, not the end of the opioid. While these results were shocking the pharmaceutical industry still faces much leniency from the federal

An additional effect of some opioids is an experience of euphoria because these compounds affect the brain regions involved in reward. Those who abuse opioids may seek to intensify their experience by taking the drug in ways other than those prescribed. For example,

People who are addicted to opioids experience negative mental and physical effects that include nausea, weakened immune system, a lowered breathing rate and worst case, coma (Prashad 2017). Since opioid effects the immune system, individuals have an increased risk of developing HIV or any infectious deadly disease. The risk does not end there, effects of opioids also includes, hallucinations, clogged blood vessels and the risk of choking (Prashad 2017). Having a child, parent, friend or any loved one that is addicted to opioids have many affects. Parents who have an opioid addict child, may feel as they were the reason for their addiction. Parents might feel guilt by thinking their lifestyle at home was the main trigger for wanting to take

This study also discusses about Gender-specific aspects which should be taken into consideration to identify those group of people which are at highest risk specifically for abusing of prescription opioid. the best way to control this issue is Prevention and applying intervention efforts which will be the best cure Research shows that women represent a large and growing population of prescription opioid abusers (Cicero et al., 2008; SAMHSA, 2006 ;  Tetrault et al., 2008). Unlike for heroin, an equal or greater proportion of women appear to abuse prescription opioids (Kelly et al., 2008 ;  Simoni-Wastila et al., 2004). In some studies it shows the correlation etween abusing of the prescription medication and abusing of alcohol and the other type of drugs.

Since endorphins keep us from feeling pain, morphine and heroin can also stop pain signals from traveling to the brain. They would make us feel euphoric, and our body could easily get addicted to morphine and

Morphine functions via the μ opioid receptor to bring about changes in miRNA expression in neurons. Their chronic use results in undesirable effects such as drug tolerance, opioid-induced pain, and opioid dependence as well as reducing the size of the dopaminergic neurons [14-15]. Opioid drugs, such as morphine, are a class of powerful analgesics that are used for treating many forms of acute and chronic pain. This analgesics also forms a common drug of abuse that could have dire consequences for the neurons upon repeated intake. It is likely that this same mechanism of toxicity could result in morphine abusers developing symptoms similar to PD patients.

This paper explores a published scholastic journal that reports on results from research that has been conducted on morphine drug use and effects. The articles tend to vary a bit in terms of language and definitions but most interactions are effective in producing similar outcomes when talking about the proceeding topic. A cognitive model of drug urges and associated behavior are necessary but not always adequate for the production of drug uses in ongoing addicts. Specifically, morphine is what I have chosen to research looking more in depth at its effects of mental, emotional, and physical changes that can occur in one’s body with use. Three types of behavior can be recorded; verbal report from addicts, obvious behavior and actions that take place with use, and neuromuscular effects on the human body. As this is not the only model available for testing, there are many other cognitive models of drug use and drug urges that can be proposed. Tiffany, Stephen T. ‘s Psychological Review (1990), discusses that these models assume urges are necessary but not always sufficient in order to verify on going drug use in addicts, more specifically morphine addicts. With little to no research I already know that morphine is a dangerous, narcotic, painkiller that is used to alleviate chronic pain. It directly acts with the central nervous system of the brain to relieve intense pain effects. It is a controlled substance that is labeled to be “high risk” for addiction and dependence.