Prescription Opiates
Prescription Opiates Overview
Under their more commonly known brand names like Oxycontin and Vicodin, the misuse of prescription opiates, like oxycodone began to surge in the U.S. in the late 1990s. Opiate overdoses are now the leading cause of injury-related fatalities in the...
Opium Addiction in 19th Century China
Centuries before the British Empire began its foray into India and China, a small percentage of Chinese (mainly the elite) ate or smoked opium either as an aphrodisiac or to cure dysentery. As the British appetite for Chinese goods grew...
U.S. Civil War Morphine Addiction
A century before China reached its peak opium addiction, in 1803 the German scientist, Friedrich Wilhelm Sertüner, discovered a better pain reliever by extracting opium’s first alkaloid. Called morphine, after the Greek god Morpheus who induced a dreamy sleepy state,...
Some Early Lessons with Easy Access and Acceptance
When the Chinese were using opium in small doses at the beginning of the 19th century, it was viewed as a drug to treat minor ailments like dysentery and as a novelty for a small percentage of the elite. No...
Opiate Addiction Today
Our current addiction challenge with prescription opiates like Oxycontin can be better understood by looking at our previous experience with addiction to the very same drug well over a century ago. As Confucius said, ‘a true teacher is one who,...
Opiate Effects
When used as actual medicine, a swallowed pill’s effects are felt within 25 minutes as the stomach and small intestines begins their digestion process and absorb the drug into the bloodstream. While some abusers of prescription opiates take the pills...