How are illegal opiates & amphetamines different from their medical/prescription counterparts?

[Rigamarole]

I've had prescription opiates (like oxycontin, codeine) in the past and I've always imagined taking heroin would be basically the same experience, but stronger, as if one had taken a high dose. One can certainly see the addictive potential of it.

Similar thing with prescription amphetamines (i.e. Adderall) versus crystal meth, which I'd never touch.

I certainly don't know enough about chemistry to know how they are chemically different and whether those differences are all that significant or not. Of course, I assume that street drugs will have a much higher chance of containing impurities that could lead to negative side effects. Otherwise, what is the difference both in terms of chemical composition and the user experience? Is it a big difference or can someone who has taken the prescription variety meaningfully relate to a meth or heroin user?

[robert_columbia]

In the US, meth can be legally prescribed by a doctor (though I understand that they rarely do).

[Markxxx]

One of the problems with illegal drugs are quite simply profits. If you have a bunch of heroin or other drugs, it becomes more profitable to cut them with benign things so you can sell more of it.

You have to balance this out so the user can still get the expected high. This can lead to issues when a regular dealer you buy from is giving you "X amount" of heroin and you get it from another dealer who isn't cutting it as much. So you take the supposed same amount and can OD.

Heroin was once used for medical treatment but heroin "seems" to be more addictive than other forms of opiates. I say "seems" because there's debate on this.

The regulation of drugs can be odd in other ways. For instance, at one time Claritan was prescribed though it was much safer to use than Benedryl which was available over the counter. (This has since changed)

Albuterol is safer than Primatene for asthma, but you need a prescription for albuterol and not Primatene.

The reasoning behind it is, people will self treat with albuterol for asthma and if your asthma is bad enough for aluterol you should see a doctor. That's in theory but in reality people will just go buy Primatene

[Hirka T'Bawa]

Heroin is chemically Diactyl-Morphine. It is basically a morphine molecule with two actyl groups which are lipophillic allowing it to cross the blood-brain barrier faster. It is then converted in the brain into Morphine. So, basically, it works the same exact way as morphine, but more gets into the brain faster, but doesn't last as long.

Pretty much all of the opiods works the same way, just a matter of how "strong" they are, and how much gets absorbed from the GI tract. For example, 20mg of Oxycodone is equivalent to 30mg of Morphine (both given orally).

[njtt]

Most of the ones usually prescribed medically generally don't act as fast (though they may be active in the body longer), so they don't provide the same sort of "rush" that the street drugs do (so I am told). And, of course, the street drugs will often be taken by snorting or mainlining, just to get them to the brain quicker and intensify the rush.

I was personally on codeine for several months once, and never noticed any sort of "high" at all from it, though it helped with the chronic pain I had been suffering well enough.

[glowacks]

Adderall is a mixture of four amphetamine salts, each of which has a different bio-availability profile. Instead of the amphetamine being available all at once, it's metabolized at different rates, allowing the drug to maintain a level where there are therapeutic effects without causing a rush. While you could probably get high if you crushed and snorted it, taking it orally allows the digestive system to work on the different components of the prescribed medication as intended and spread out the effects.

[snailboy]

Drugs are supposedly only put in schedule 1 (completely restricted except for certain research) if they have a large potential for addiction and no medical benefits. The United States apparently decided heroin wasn't beneficial, or other drugs were better substituted for it. It can be prescribed in Europe. Cocaine and methamphetamine are schedule 2 and can legally be used medicinally in the states. (Cocaine is used for eye surgeries.)

Much of the reason is probably also because of the ease of production illegally. Heroin is a lot easier to produce than most other opioids. It's not the most addictive of the opioids. I've read accounts from addicts that say they'd rather have oxymorphone or hydromorphone; they're just so expensive and hard to get.

[ChrisBooth12]

http://www.erowid.org/

Facts about every drug under the sun

[Uncertain]

Originally Posted by Hirka T'Bawa

Heroin is chemically Diactyl-Morphine. It is basically a morphine molecule with two actyl groups which are lipophillic allowing it to cross the blood-brain barrier faster. It is then converted in the brain into Morphine. So, basically, it works the same exact way as morphine, but more gets into the brain faster, but doesn't last as long.

According to wikipedia, the 6-monoacetylmorphine that is produced from heroin is quite active. I don't know whether that's relevant to its higher addictive potential, but it might be.

[sisu]

Tax would be the main difference, I joke; or do I?

Purity and delayed release tends to be the main differences.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

Originally Posted by njtt

Most of the ones usually prescribed medically generally don't act as fast (though they may be active in the body longer), so they don't provide the same sort of "rush" that the street drugs do (so I am told). And, of course, the street drugs will often be taken by snorting or mainlining, just to get them to the brain quicker and intensify the rush.

I was personally on codeine for several months once, and never noticed any sort of "high" at all from it, though it helped with the chronic pain I had been suffering well enough.

I can't tell if this was the point of your post or not, but of course you didn't feel any sort of high from it because you weren't snorting it or mainlining it. Which you had mentioned earlier in your post as how people do those drugs.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by sisu

Tax would be the main difference, I joke; or do I?

Purity and delayed release tends to be the main differences.

Quoted for truth.

[snailboy]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

I can't tell if this was the point of your post or not, but of course you didn't feel any sort of high from it because you weren't snorting it or mainlining it. Which you had mentioned earlier in your post as how people do those drugs.

Are you suggesting that drugs taken orally can't get you high? I assure you, that's not true. Even heroin can get you high when eaten; it just takes a lot more of it and you don't get the rush.

Also, injecting (and probably insufflating) codeine can cause embolisms. It's not a good idea...

[Triskadecamus]

The guy who made your prescription meth was in a very clean building, using purified source chemicals, and carefully measured everything. He also wore a mask, and gloves, and all the machinery used to make it was carefully cleaned and serviced regularly by people who know what they are doing. It comes in precise dosages to the microgram, and has no ingredients not listed on the package.

You street meth, not so much.

You can sue a drug company. Don't try suing your street dealer.

Tris

[LouisB]

Codeine* has been my drug of choice for years and years; I'm clean now but I still hear its siren call, louder some days than others. I don't know if I would characterize its effect on me as a high but it certainly modifies reality and in a way I really like. To me, it's sort of like looking at the world through a couple of panes of wavy glass that have water running over them. Not much of a world view, but we addicts aren't terribly logical in our thinking.
As to a rush, I don't know if I've experienced such an affect with codeine. I've felt what I think is a rush from Demerol which I've taken for relief from migraines. Other than that, I don't really know what a rush is.

*I've always taken codeine in prescription form; I've never injected it (to my knowledge) and I've never snorted it; the effects might be completely different than taking codeine tablets.

[Cluricaun]

Seems like as good a point as any to mention that Heroin is a brand name introduced by Bayer in the late 1800s. It's just a purified version of morphine.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Cluricaun

Seems like as good a point as any to mention that Heroin is a brand name introduced by Bayer in the late 1800s. It's just a purified version of morphine.

Poor Bayer...how many pharmaceutical trademarks did they manage to lose to the English language?

[Cluricaun]

Originally Posted by jayjay

Poor Bayer...how many pharmaceutical trademarks did they manage to lose to the English language?

Probably equal to the number of Nazi related things that they did.

[Canadjun]

Originally Posted by Cluricaun

Seems like as good a point as any to mention that Heroin is a brand name introduced by Bayer in the late 1800s. It's just a purified version of morphine.

Not quite.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Eh? That says exactly what he said (except that "purified" is an oversimplification).

[Cluricaun]

Originally Posted by Canadjun

Not quite.

From that exact link:

"Diacetylmorphine was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride for several hours and produced a more potent, acetylated form of morphine, now called diacetylmorphine."

[Covered_In_Bees!]

Originally Posted by snailboy

Are you suggesting that drugs taken orally can't get you high? I assure you, that's not true. Even heroin can get you high when eaten; it just takes a lot more of it and you don't get the rush.

Also, injecting (and probably insufflating) codeine can cause embolisms. It's not a good idea...

I'm saying njtt wasn't getting high because she wasn't trying that hard. She wasn't taking heroin by mouth. She was taking something specifically made to be taken by mouth and for pain. Not taking it in a method specifically to get her high. She was taking it as prescribed and therefore wasn't getting anything resembling a high.

[snailboy]

Originally Posted by Really Not All That Bright

Eh? That says exactly what he said (except that "purified" is an oversimplification).

Except that purified isn't correct at all. It's acetylized which completely changes what chemical it is, albeit to a similar one. It would be like saying water is a purified form of hydrogen peroxide.

[Canadjun]

Originally Posted by Cluricaun

From that exact link:

"Diacetylmorphine was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride for several hours and produced a more potent, acetylated form of morphine, now called diacetylmorphine."

In other words, it isn't a "purified version of morphine".

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by Hirka T'Bawa

Heroin is chemically Diactyl-Morphine.

I think Diactyl Morphine was a kind of dinosaur that put its prey to sleep before killing it...

Pretty much all of the opiods works the same way, just a matter of how "strong" they are, and how much gets absorbed from the GI tract. For example, 20mg of Oxycodone is equivalent to 30mg of Morphine (both given orally).

It's important to remember also that abusers, at least the ones deliberately seeking a rush, may take much larger doses of any drug than would be used therapeutically. For example, ccording to Wikipedia, high doses of amphetamine can result in hallucinations, among other things.

[njtt]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

I'm saying njtt wasn't getting high because she wasn't trying that hard. She wasn't taking heroin by mouth. She was taking something specifically made to be taken by mouth and for pain. Not taking it in a method specifically to get her high. She was taking it as prescribed and therefore wasn't getting anything resembling a high.

You too, huh?

[snailboy]

Originally Posted by Hirka T'Bawa

Pretty much all of the opiods works the same way, just a matter of how "strong" they are, and how much gets absorbed from the GI tract. For example, 20mg of Oxycodone is equivalent to 30mg of Morphine (both given orally).

Just noticed this part and had to mention how it's very slightly wrong. There are some opioids that won't get you high at all. For instance, loperamide is found in over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medicines. It doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier in sufficient amounts to cause euphoria and analgesia. It only slows down peristalsis (the flow of food through the intestines).

Also, there are different types of opioid receptors and if I recall correctly, different opioids can trigger different receptors. However, as far as I know, the mu-opioid receptor is the only one that causes euphoria so I wouldn't expect highs to vary much between different opioids. However, from accounts I've read, it does actually vary some beyond just intensity. Supposedly people feel more energetic on oxycodone than hydrocodone, for instance.

[Hirka T'Bawa]

Hence my use of the phrase "pretty much" There are a couple different opioid receptors, with the mu receptor being one of the most important ones.

Though, if you want to be REALLY technically, loperamide does work the same way as most of the other opioid, it acts mainly on the mu receptors. However, due to it's structure, very little crosses the BBB (as you mentioned), and the little that does, is actually actively transported out of the brain. It's mechanism of action is the same, just the site of action is different.