Morphine Addiction & Abuse

It borrows its name from Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams, mainly because it gives the user a euphoric feeling often described as a dreamlike sensation.

A solution was thus urgently needed to mitigate the addictive effects of opium, while maintaining the positive medicinal properties. Between year 1805 and 1816, a pharmacist assistant named Friedrich Wilhelm Serturner managed to isolate a yellowish white crystalline compound from crude opium. After testing very small doses of the compound on himself, he discovered that it had the effects of pain relief and euphoria. He named this compound Morphine after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus.

By the mid nineteenth century, morphine was now commercially produced and it was highly praised as a miracle drug that doctors could prescribe to injured soldiers during the American civil war. It was effective in its job, but after the war, it was discovered that veterans who had used morphine, both from north and south, had developed morphine addiction.

The drug was also gaining traction as an alternative to opium in pain relief and as a substitute for opium to treat opium addiction among users. The perfection of the first hypodermic needle in 1853 provided a new way of introducing morphine directly into the bloodstream. Due to the refined form of the drug, Morphine proved to be ten times more effective in comparison to opium, in the relief of pain. However, one major problem arose; its addictive properties also turned out to be exponentially enhanced, posing a new challenge that needed to be mitigated.

Morphine Sulphate tablets were thus developed and introduced to address the risk of dependence observed among individuals who needed morphine for pain relief. These tablets release the morphine into the body in smaller doses at a time, and were seen as a solution to the stubborn stain of addiction and dependence that has defied science in the application of opiates for medicinal purposes. Today, Morphine Sulfate tablets are prescribed for the management of critical and chronic pain, which is severe enough to require an opioid analgesic, but for which alternative treatments are inadequate.

Morphine sulphate pills take different shapes, sizes and colours. Some tablets are round in shape, while others take an oval/elliptical shape. We also have capsule shaped morphine sulphate tablets. The colour and shape notwithstanding, one common feature of all morphine sulphate tablets is that they must indicate their dosage content in miligrams on the face of the tablet. Here are sample pictures of morphine sulphate tablets.

Morphine Sulphate oral solutions are commonly used in aleviation of pain for individuals who may be unable to swallow solid tablets in one form or the other. Just like the tablets, the oral solutions come in varying dosage and should be administered strictly as prescribed to minimize the risk of dependence.

Injectable morphine sulphate is also used to relieve moderate to severe pain. It may also be used before or during surgery with an anesthetic, as it acts on the central nervous system to relieve pain.

• Roxanol
• Kadian ER
• Morphine Sulphate ER
• MS Contin
• Kapanol
• Morphabond
• Oramorph SR

In the streets, it is impossible to list all the names that are used in reference to a drug, some of the names that are however commonly used in reference to morphine include;

• Monkey
• Dreamer
• White Stuff
• Aunti Em
• Aunti
• Morph
• Drone
• TNT
• Tango and Cash
• Dance Fever
• Murder 8
• Goodfella

Among other obscure and discreet names that may be known only to limited users in a locality.

Due to its short half-life, morphine dissipates within a very short span of time in blood. On average, it falls below detectable levels in blood, one day after administration or use.  Hair on the other hand can show traces of drug use after a very long time. Although factors such as the length of the hair, the frequency of getting a haircut and the amount of the drug used come into play, traces of morphine can be detected in hair for up to 90 days. In urine, morphine can be detected within one to two days after use. With particularly heavy use, this can extend for a longer period of time, but it can never go beyond four to five days from the last dosage.