What Are Opiates?

Opiates or “opioids” are a group of drugs that is derived from opium which comes from the poppy plant. The term opiates is normally used for close relatives of opium such as Heroin, Codeine, and Morphine, while the term opioids is used for the entire class of drugs including synthetic opiates such as Oxycontin. Opiates have been traditionally used to treat pain but are highly regulated because of their tendencies to become addicting.

For your convenience, below we have listed some of the more common opiates, also known as “pain killers”, in order of increasing strength, and their accompanying generic names.

• Codeine
• Vicodin, Hycodan (hydrocodone)
• MS Contin Kadian (morphine)
• Oxycontin, Percoset (oxycodone)
• Dilaudid (hydromorphone)
• Duragesic (fentanyl)

Opiate Addiction

As mentioned above, opiates are typically used for pain relief after surgery or an injury. As a side effect, opiates produce a sense of wellbeing or euphoria that can be addictive. Moreover, over time, many people begin to develop a tolerance so they need more and more dosages to get the same previous effect. Opiate users begin to obsessively think about getting more opiates and frequently engage in some illegal activities to get their next dose. This can include buying or selling opiates without a valid prescription or even committing Prescription Fraud.

Aside from criminal activity, opiate addiction can also lead to deadly overdoses that cause cardiac and respiratory arrest. Often times, because of tolerance, opiate users will be tempted to take more dosages of the opiate to obtain the same euphoric effect but their body’s have not developed the same tolerance to the narcotic effects. Therefore people often overdose by mistake because they are trying to get a higher high and take too much. Opiate overdose can be reversed in hospital with substances taken intravenously such Narcan. For more information on heroin overdose, visit our article on “Preventing an Overdose.”