Meperidine - Overview

Overview

Narcotic analgesics are prescribed by doctors to treat moderate to severe pain. The first narcotics were opiates, which are any drugs derived from the opium poppy or synthetically produced to mimic the effects of the opium poppy. Opiates tend to decrease restlessness, bring on sleep, and relieve pain. Opium is a plant-based, chemically complex drug that has been used for thousands of years as medicine and as a recreational drug. Although it does block pain, it is highly addictive. The intensity of its effects is difficult to regulate from one use to the next, which makes it impractical as a pharmaceutical drug.

Prescription Drug Abuse by Teens

The abuse of prescription drugs by teens has increased dramatically in the twenty-first century. Did you know that:

  • Nearly one out of five teenagers has taken Vicodin to get high.
  • In 2004, teens were more likely to use a prescription drug than a so-called "street" drug to get high.
  • Some middle and high school students falsely believe that prescription painkillers are safe to use as recreational drugs.
  • These same students also believe that using prescription drugs to get high is not illegal.
  • Some students misuse prescription drugs in an attempt to enhance their athletic performance.
  • Hundreds of Internet sites offer prescription drugs to anyone with a credit card; 90 percent do not always verify the age of the buyer.
  • Prescription drug sales have climbed 400 percent since 1990, in part due to "doctor shopping."
  • "Doctor shopping" is the practice of finding a doctor who will write illegal prescriptions, or of getting prescriptions for a particular drug from more than one doctor at a time.

One of the chemical components of opium is morphine, an addictive opiate that is used to kill pain and bring on relaxation and sleep. In 1806, German chemist Friedrich Sertürner (1783–1841) was finally able to isolate pure morphine from opium. This resulted in the first pure, highly effective analgesic (painkilling) drug for medical use. In 1832, codeine, the other major chemical in opium, was isolated and used as medicine. Both drugs are still in use, individually and in combination with other drugs, because they are very effective pain relievers. However, both are also highly addictive. That is why researchers have continued to try to develop better opiate-like drugs—that is, drugs that possess the pain-relieving power of morphine and codeine, but with fewer negative effects.

One of the first wholly synthesized opioids—or opiate-like drugs—was meperidine. It was first created in the 1930s. It was produced from human-made chemicals, rather than from any part of the opium poppy. Meperidine is still in medical use today.

More About Opioids

Semi-synthetic opioids are drugs that are synthesized with one of the natural opiates, morphine or codeine. Examples of these are hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (OxyContin). Both the synthesized and semi-synthesized opioids are drugs specifically created to produce effects similar to opium. They each have particular benefits and drawbacks. Morphine and codeine are still used, however, because researchers still have not found anything that works quite as well as the natural opiates themselves. In addition to their pain-relieving characteristics, opiates and opioids also have something else in common: They are all physically and psychologically addictive to one degree or another. Scientists are still working to try to find a chemical compound that will function as effectively as an opiate-like substance without the dangers of addiction.