1. Opiates
By Ian Brett

2. What are Opiates?
Opiates are narcotic drugs that are used to repress pain. They are derived from the sap of the opium - or poppy - plant. Opioids are similar, however they are either derived from or used to simulate opium, and are often synthetic. The two terms are often used interchangeably as the effects of each kind of drug are very similar. As such there will be no distinction between the two in this powerpoint

3. Examples of opiates
There are many different types of opiates/opioids, and as such, many different forms. Some of them include:
Morphine: can be swallowed, injected, or taken as a pill
Heroin: can be injected, smoked, swallowed, or snorted
Opium: most often smoked
Codeine: codeine-based cough syrup, pills, also commonly taken as an ingredient in Tylenol-3
Oxycodone: taken as a pill

4. Some common street names for Heroin
Dope
Skag
Black Tar
Hero
Smack
Brown Sugar

5. Fentanyl
Fentanyl is an opiate with 50 to 100 times the potency of morphine or heroin. It can be lethal in small amounts, and is often used to “cut” or dilute other drugs such as heroin or cocaine.
It is used legally as a painkiller for cancer and other chronic illness patients.
Carfentanil is another drug similar to heroin, and is about 100 times more potent than fentanyl, and 5000 times more potent than heroin. It is starting to be used in the downtown eastside and other areas.
It is the extreme potency of fentanyl and carfentanil that is causing so many drug overdoses in BC and other areas, as an amount smaller than a grain of sand could kill you

6. Source: BC Coroner’s Service

7. History
Opium, the original and most basic opiate, was first used recreationally and as a medicine in ancient Mesopotamia. Since then, opiates have been used extensively throughout the world, most often as prescribed painkillers in the form of morphine. Morphine was invented in the early 1800’s and used as a painkiller as early as the American civil war, and since then in the two world wars. In 1898, heroin promoted as a safer replacement to morphine, and after the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 it was outlawed most places in the world. Today, there are many different forms of legal opiates, generally used as prescription painkiller.

8. Effects of opiates
Short-term: intense, pleasurable high, followed by relaxation, drowsiness, sedation, paranoia, can’t stop moving, dilation of pupils, and pain relief
Long term: Nausea and vomiting, abdominal distention and bloating, constipation. liver damage, brain damage due to hypoxia, resulting from respiratory depression (which is when you don’t breath automatically anymore), development of tolerance; so you need larger and larger amounts to feel the effects, and dependence, which can take effect within three days.
Withdrawal symptoms: anxiety, restlessness, irritability, increased sensitivity to pain, achy feeling, nausea

9. How opiates work
Opiates are chemicals that bind to areas in your brain related with pain, reward, and addictive behaviors. When they bind to the receptors in your brain, a bunch of dopamine is released, which is the pleasure chemical.
Opiates affect many areas of the body:
Brain: depression, severe drowsiness, and sedation
Respiratory system: respiratory depression
Digestive system: constipation, nausea, and other more serious problems
Also affects the liver, immune system, and nervous system

10. Sources; respectively: https://drugabuse
and

11. Accessibility and who uses it
Many opiates, such as morphine and fentanyl (among others), are available and given out often as prescription drugs given out as pain relievers. As such, thousands of people from every demographic use opiates legally, as they are very effective at suppressing pain. Others, such as heroin, are generally dealt illegally, but they are still quite easy to get in certain areas such as downtown eastside in Vancouver, but it is not necessarily safe to get them from the streets as they are often laced or cut with other drugs such as fentanyl.

12. Heroin users in the US in 2013

13. Treatment Treatment for addiction varies from person to person.
One major problem with opiates is that they create physical withdrawal symptoms as well as mental ones, which can be very hard to overcome. That is why one method of treatment is detoxification, involving slowly weaning the person off the opiate by providing replacement drugs such as methadone, which satisfies the need for the drug without creating a high.
Often, detox is followed by therapy, which involves getting drug abusers to discuss how they can avoid taking drugs in the future.

14. Your brain on opioids: from National Geographic

15. APA citations:
Staff, History.com. (2017). Heroin, Morphine, and Opiates. Retreived from:
Brown, C. (2017, April 25). How Europe’s heroin capital solved its overdose crisis. Retrieved from
Staff, drugabuse.com. (2013, Nov. 29). The effects of opiate use. Retrieved from:

16. Sources

17. Sources continued https://www.projectknow.com/research/opiate-effects/ /