Adderall->meth as Oxy->Heroin

[whippa craka]

In my little head I have always pictured these "legal" common prescription drugs being the closest counterpart of their illegal. (NOT CHEMICALLY) Specifially I am relating Adderall to Meth and Oxy to Heroin. I know in regards to Meth there are closer forms of prescription drugs, but Adderall is 100000% more commonly used. I originally was just going to ask about differences (primary/side effects) between Meth and Adderall, but I felt like I shoudl extend the question to Oxy and Heroin.

So in other words not chemically (Just primary/side effects), how would you differ these drugs?

There are plenty of other amps/opiates to discuss, but I feel these drugs are at the top of the food chain also considering how commonly they are used. Feel free to mention them, however.

 

[sekio]

Heroin and Methamphetamine ar both legal in some parts of the owrld.

The important differences are:
Methamphetamine is a very strong releaser of norepinephrine and dopamine, and moderate releaser of serotonin. It is also a MAOI and is very, very fat soluble. It is metabolized into amphetamine so it's very long lasting. (total half life 24-25hours+)
Amphetamine is a strong releaser of norepinephrine and moderate releaser of dopamione. It is a very weak serotonin releaser so it is less neurotoxic and has fewer bodily side effects (hunger suppression, psychosis) - but is also less "smooth". It has no active metabolites so it wears off much faster tham methamphetamine (half life 12 hours).

Oxycodone is a thebaine-derived semi-synthetic opiate alkaloid. It is roughly the same activity as morphine, but it has active metabolites (oxymorphinols, oxycodol, oxymorphone). The most important difference, and why it's used clinically, is because it's extensively absorbed orally - does not need to be injected to get a good effect. Also its relative lack of sedation and psychiatric effects as compared to e.g. morphine helps in some users. This is probably because it releases more histamine.
Heroin is really a prodrug for 6-monoacetylmorphine and morphine. As such it really needs to be administered IV to get full effects - snorting, smoking etc are not very effective, and nor is eating it (because it is converted to morphine in stomach acid). It is more sedating than oxycodone.

The main reason Adderall is used is because methamphetamine has a huge stigma and is neurotoxic, whereas amphetamine is comparatively safer. In addition an XR capsule can be purged from the body in an emergency or overdose, but if you take a huge dose of meth you're up for days.

Heroin is not used because hospitals are uncomfortable supplying pain patients with needles or having them blow lines.

 

[Violenza666]

^What he said...

"Heroin is not used because hospitals are uncomfortable supplying pain patients with needles or having them blow lines." This gave me the giggles.. I needed that...

It makes me wonder if they're really gonna come out with that Opana nasal spray... I think there's stadol spray for migranes on the market.. but yea I don't see pain patients getting rxed syringes with their dr's saying "have at it"..

 

[SafeTrouble]

Meth is like really concentrated Adderall in terms of strength, with only slightly stronger side-effects and comedown fatigue from what I've seen and heard.

I definitely agree that heroin is more sedative than oxy. With oxy, I can get around and walk (not very well, but it's still possible) whereas on H, most people sort of just wanna sit and space out. Oxy is also a bit more euphoric in my opinion, but not by much.