Identification:Morphine is legally available only in the form of its water-soluble salts. Most common are morphine sulfate and morphine hydrochloride. Both are fine white crystalline powders, bitter to the taste. Both are soluble in water and slightly soluble in alcohol.
Drug Source:Morphine is isolated from crude opium, which is a resinous preperation of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum.
Preperation:1. Opium is macerated with water at 38 degrees, the extract evaporated with CaCO3 to a small bulk, and then mixed with CaCl2. The liquid is filtered from ppd. calcium meconate, and evaporated. It first deposits calcium meconate, and afterwards a mixture of the hydrochlorides of morphine and codeine. These crystals are dissolved in water and treated with ammonia, which ppts. morphine, leaving codeine in solution (Robiquet a. Gregory, A. 5, 87 ; 7, 261). 2. The aqueous extract of opium is boiled with lime, and the filtrate boiled with NH4Cl, which ppts. morphine (Mohr, A. 35, 120).
Medical Uses:symptomatic relief of moderately severe to severe pain, relief of certain types of difficult or labored breathing, suppression of severe cough (rarely), suppression of severe diarrhea (e.g., that produced by cholera).
Dosage, Medical:For moderate to severe pain the best intramuscular dosage is considered to be 10 mg per 70 kg body weight every four hours. The typical dose range is from 5 to 20 mg every four hours, depending on the severity of the pain. The oral dose range is between 8 and 20 mg; but with oral administration morphine has substantially less analgesic potency (approximately one-tenth of the effect produced by subcutaneous injection) because it is rapidly destroyed as it passes through the liver immediately after absorption. The intravenous route is employed primarily for severe post-operative pain or in an emergency; in this case the dose range is between 4 and 10 mg, and the analgesic effect ensues almost immediately.
Dosage, Nonmedical:Irregular or intermittent users (who are not substituting the drug for another narcotic analgesic) may start and continue to use doses within the therapeutic range (e.i., up to 20 mg). However, regular users who employ morphine for its subjectively pleasurable effects frequently increase the dose as tolerance develops. To take several hundred milligrams per day is common, and there are reliable reports of up to four or five grams (4000 - 5000 mg) per day.
Consumption:Morphine may be taken orally in tablet form, and can also injected subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or intravenously; the last is the route preferred by those who are dependent on morphine.
Effects:suppression the sensation of and emotional response to pain, euphoria; drowsiness, lethargy, relaxation; difficulty in concentrating, decreased physical activity in some users and increased physical activity in others; mild anxiety or fear, pupillary constriction, blurred vision, impaired night vision, suppression of cough reflex. Slightly reduced respiratory rate. nausea and vomiting; constipation, loss of appetite, decreased gastric motility. slight drop in body temperature, sweating, reduced libido, prickly or tingling sensation on the skin (particularly after intravenous injection).
Duration:4 - 5 hours
WARNING: high potential for addiction, continued use results in both psychological and physical dependency
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