Opioids Crude conversion of Opium - Question

[BlindHarper]

I'm sure some of you have seen the "Czech Heroin Holiday" Vice documentary. It follows a group of Czech heroin addicts who, at the right time of year, camp out in a commercial field of poppies, and do nothing but get high for a few days. They harvest the latex from the poppys, though as time is of the essence and there is effectively an endless supply, rather than slicing the pods, they rip them off, and collect the small amount of latex that appears at the base, where pod meets stem.

They do a very crude process to turn this raw opium into an injectable form. The process involves vinegar, which I'm assuming is supposed to do something regarding the acetyl-isation of the morphine.

Does anyone know exactly what it is they might be doing? Would it be effective? Or are they essentially just injected opium?

 

[Absolum37]

I’ve wondered the same thing! Seeing as they had a “cook,” there must be at least some skill involved, yet it was just vinegar, water, and heating of latex. Very interesting documentary!

 

[vision conquest]

I haven't seen said doco, but vinigar is acetic acid, obviously that's far from acetic anhydride but maybe it's enough to add the first acetyl group?