Morphine - Overview
Overview
Morphine is derived from a flowering poppy called Papaver somniferum. This plant can grow in many environments, but it thrives in a soil that contains some sand and loam, in higher elevations with cooler temperatures. Opium poppies were first grown by people
6,000 years ago in the area that is now Iran and Iraq. A manuscript from the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, dating to 1552 BCE, mentions opium as a cure for more than 700 illnesses.
From Plant to Drug
Although the leaves and stems of the opium poppy plant also contain opiates, it is the sticky sap in the bulbs that has the most strength. The bulbs begin to ripen after the flower petals fall. As the bulbs ripen, skilled farmers cut them, and the sap flows out. Once collected, the sap is dissolved in boiling water. The twigs and other plant material float to the surface, and the boiled opium is strained. It is then cooked a second time, this time to remove the water. Once the water has evaporated as steam, what remains is a putty-like substance called "smoking opium." After this simple process, users sometimes smoke or eat the opium to get high.
More commonly, though, the cooked opium goes through another chemical process. Again it is boiled, this time with lime. The lime converts the opium from a non-water soluble morphine alkaloidA nitrogen-containing substance found in plants. into the water-soluble calcium morphenate. Ammonium chloride is added to the solution, and this causes the morphine to settle to the bottom of the cooking pot. The solution is poured through a straining cloth, and what remains is chunks of morphine that are dried in the sun. Legally, these morphine "bricks" are processed into prescription painkillers. Illegally, they are smuggled into laboratories and turned into heroin.
Addictive Effects
None of this chemistry was known to opium farmers in the era prior to modern medicine. In the Middle Ages (c. 500–c. 1500), opium was mixed with wine or other alcohol and called "laudanum." Crude opium was also smoked, particularly after the introduction of pipes from the Americas after Columbus (1451–1506) reached the New World in 1492. When opium smoking became widespread in Asia—and particularly in China—the destructive and habit-forming effects of the drug began to be revealed.
In 1803 German chemist Friedrich Sertürner (1783–1841) experimented with opium and isolated morphine for the first time. He named his discovery after the Greek god Morpheus, who is often depicted in ancient statues sleeping among opium poppies. Within thirty years of Sertürner's discovery, it was possible to buy medicines with morphine from any store that sold remedies. Both morphine and opium cost less than alcohol, and the substances were abused by famous and common people alike. The users of morphine and opium-laced medicines were aware of the dangers. As early as 1821 author Thomas de Quincy wrote Confessions of an English Opium Eater, describing his personal experiences of addiction and drug-induced mental breakdown.
Morphine, a painkiller that can be dissolved in water, came to the forefront in 1848, when an inventor perfected the hypodermic needle. This allowed the substance to be injected right into a vein, producing pain relief (and euphoriaPronounced yu-FOR-ee-yuh; a state of extreme happiness and enhanced well-being; the opposite of dysphoria.) in minutes. Surgeons welcomed this new tool, since it enabled them to perform pain-free operations. But the medical community quickly learned that morphine was habit-forming. In his book Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry,
Use and Abuse, Paul M. Gahlinger estimates that 400,000 soldiers became addicted to morphine during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Morphine addiction was so common among returning veterans that it was called "the soldiers' disease."
Discovery of Heroin
Doctors and chemists continued to experiment with morphine, hoping to create a product that would be less habitforming but would still control pain. Codeine was isolated in 1832. It was not as strong as morphine but was used in cough formulas and diarrhea medications. Soon it was found to be addictive as well. Another experiment on the morphine compound occurred in 1874, when British chemist Alder Wright created diacetylmorphine (DIE-uh-SEE-tuhl-MOR-feen), marketed as heroin.
With the introduction of heroin, morphine users and opium smokers hoped they had found a cure for their addictions. Many tried heroin to wean themselves off the other substances. In doing so, they traded a bad addiction for an even worse one. By that time, over-the-counter medicines containing codeine, morphine, heroin, and cannabis (marijuana) could be bought for problems as varied as toothaches, headaches, and fussy babies. (Entries for codeine and marijuana are available in this encyclopedia.) At that time, people did not realize the dangers of using such products.
Dealing with the Growing Abuse
China had long struggled with large numbers of opium addicts. As Chinese immigrants came to the United States to work, some brought the habit with them. By the late 1800s, almost every major city in the United States had at least 1 opium "den"; New York had more than 300. Opium dens were darkly lit establishments where people went to smoke opium. Many dens had beds, boards, or sofas upon which people could recline while experiencing the effects of the drug.
On February 1, 1909, China and the United States led a meeting called the International Opium Commission. Eleven other countries participated. Three years later, a convention in the Netherlands produced the first international agreement on the regulation of narcoticsA painkiller that may become habit-forming; in a broader sense, any illegally purchased drug.—especially opium and heroin. Gahlinger wrote: "This began a process whereby the United States took a global leadership in controlling the international narcotics trade, even while its own domestic use of addictive drugs was rampant. One hundred years later, this situation has not changed."
The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 made it illegal to sell medicines containing heroin, morphine, or opium without labels warning of the presence of the drug in the product. In 1926 heroin was made completely illegal. Morphine remained legal but only when prescribed by a doctor.
The twentieth century was marked by enormous progress in surgery, medications, and treatments of all sorts of diseases. Scientists
developed syntheticMade in a laboratory. painkillers based on the properties of morphine, such as oxycodone and fentanyl. However, they made no progress in removing the habit-forming effects of the substances. (Entries on oxycodone and fentanyl are available in this encyclopedia.) Morphine is still widely used in hospital settings and is prescribed as pills and liquids. It is also available in a pump implanted in the body, for use in the most stubborn, ongoing, and incurable pain. Except in the case of surgery, doctors use morphine as a drug of "last resort," after all other painkillers have failed. It is most often used when a patient is dying. At the last stage of life, the fact that morphine is addictive is no longer significant.
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