MORPHINE

COMMON NAMES: cobies, cubs, dope, emsel, first line, goods, hard stuff, hocus, junk, M, Miss Emma, morf, morphie, morpho, morphy, mud, sister, stuff, unkie, white stuff

Morphine (morphine sulphate), one of the most effective painkillers ever discovered, is the ingredient responsible for opium's psychological bliss. Like every opiate narcotic, mor phine is powerful and addictive. Once he is hooked, the ad. dict's road back to normalcy is a difficult one. Only frequent and prolonged use, however, guarantees e habit. When it is prescribed for short-term, sporadic medical use, the

likelihood of addiction is: almost nil, unless the patient decides illicitly to self-prescribe the drug when he leaves the hospital. Morphine is derived from crude opium grown in Mexico and the Middle, Near, and Far East, and reaches the phar macy as tablets, capsules, or an injectible solution that is usually shot into,a muscle or popped under the skin. In pure white crystal or odorless. fight-brown or white -powder form '' the drug can also be smoked, although morphine smokers are a rarity since the drug is most effective when injected in solution.

The drug depresses the 'central nervous system. The first time- user may experience fright, nausea, or vomiting, but after adjusting to morphine's potent effects his mind eases into a state of contentment. Life becomes a golden cloud of detachment, minus pain, anxiety, or reality. No wonder the German scientist who first discovered the drug named it after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Moderate doses can constrict the bowels and depress normal drives, such as those for food and sex. The mind is sedated and unshakably tranquil. Limbs feel heavy as the drug warms the body and mind into as pleasurable haze.

When prescribed medically, morphine reduces severe pal as well as its associated anxiety and sends the patient into blissful sleep where discomfort becomes a distant blur.

Although he, too, feels an initial surging rush, the addict does not enjoy the euphoria of the infrequent or medical user. Shortly after taking his dose he merely feels "normal" until three or four hours pass, when he becomes sweaty and irritable and his body begins to demand its next fix. Dented morphine, the body experiences withdrawal, with chills, hot, and cold flashes, nausea, cramps, profuse sweating, fever, tremors, restlessness, and anxiety. High doses or toxic reactions can constrict the pupils of the eye and cause tow blood pressure; cold, moist, bluish skin; shock, unconsciousness, coma, respiratory failure, and even death.

Scientists now theorize that traumatic reactions to morphine are not caused by the drug itself, but rather by a mixture of the narcotic with alcohol, barbiturates, or the adulterant quinine. Even an ordinary medical dose of morphine taken with alcohol can prove deadly for certain individuals. An overdosed morphine abuser should be rushed to a hospital where an opiate antagonist, such as Nalline, can be administered, permitting medically supervised withdrawal to begin.

First synthesized about 1805, morphine was at one time prescribed widely for a host of pains and illnesses. The 1800s were the salad days of morphine use, when it was commonly sold as an over-the-counter patent medicine in pharmacies and grocery stores to control diarrhea, coughs, and many other disorders. Morphine came to be preferred medically as a painkiller with the invention of the syringe in 1850, permitting the drug's use as a standardized, controllable solution. Heavily prescribed for the searing pain of battlefield injuries, the drug first' hooked Civil War combatants. Not until the end of the century, however, did doctors become aware that it was highly addictive. Ironically, heroin was invented and initially promoted as a "harmless" morphine substitute before its own addictive properties were recognized.

In 1914, the, Harrison Act began regulating the huge legal morphine trade through licensing and taxation. Tight restrictions have continued. Today, morphine is listed under Schedule II of the Federal Controlled Substances Act. Only available now for specific medical use, the drug is rarely sold in the street. Morphine is not the drug of choice of modern day American opiate addicts. Heroin has that distinction because addicts buy what is available, and what is available is heroin.