Codeine Overdose | Can You Overdose on Codeine?

Codeine is among the most recognizable medications in the world. This pain-relieving drug is typically used as both a cough suppressant and treatment method. It is considered part of the opiate class of painkiller medicines which are available exclusively by prescription.

Each dose of codeine lasts up to six hours max, and in that time the liver rapidly breaks its chemical structure down into morphine. From here, morphine binds to opioid receptors in the central nervous system to induce pain relief. This process takes as little as 30 minutes from one’s very first ingestion.

Each year, several hundred thousand kilograms of codeine are extracted from opium plants, from which the drug naturally occurs in small amounts. For this reason, codeine is considered an opiate rather than a semi or fully synthetic opioid created within a lab. In fact, many opioid medicines, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone were originally synthesized from codeine. Though these methods have changed as time has moved on, all of these associated drugs still act upon the brain in the same ways.

As far as potency is concerned, codeine falls in at around 1/10 the strength of pure, medical-grade morphine. This puts it in the same level as the drug tramadol, but less potent than the aforementioned medications oxycodone or hydrocodone. However, weakness is always a relative term when it comes to opioids and opiates. Each packs an addictive punch and comes with an inherent ability to draw users toward stronger substitutes.

Codeine may suppress coughs, but it can snuff out a life as well. Like other opiates, it can lead to potentially deadly overdoses, and so its potency should never be underestimated.