theres some fundemental understaning of opiates going wrong here which may make one seem more potent than the other, i'll see if i can simplify it a little:
if you look at heroin basically it looks like two molecules of morphine stuck together, in this form it crosses the blood brain eaiser than other opiates. giving a higher intial rush due to the efficacy of it across the BBB. Phase dancer was good enough to point out that the correct terminolgy and chem processes:
phase_dancer said:
It's probably better to say heroin is significantly more lipophillic than morphine, which means a relatively large amount crosses the BBB before being decarboxlyted to morphine - a pro drug if you like. If you compare both molecules, the difference lies in the diacetyl groups on heroin compared to the two hydroxys (diol) of morphine. The acetyl group, being far less polar gives heroin that lipophililic quality.
Once in the blood stream amino acids and metabolites turn it into a more morphine like opiate. Also when in this form it has a shorter half life in the body. One of the things that makes heroin seem stronger than morhphine is the way it is created and distributed. Heroin does not come with warning lablels that tell you how much is in a bag, let alone the amount of people that then cut it through the handling chain.
Morphine and pharma grade opiates are not designed with abuse in mind, they are designed as medium to long acting pain relief. If you look at information regarding opiate duration, half life and plazma levels you can get an idea of the difference between the way these act. THese have been specifically designed to work in a certain way have concentrations at a point in time. SO long acting morphine may have a slower onset peak at 4-6 hours but
Taken From
analgesia Brochure
MILD TO MODERATE PAIN
□ Paracetamol (Panamax®, Febridol®, Dymadon P®)
□ Naproxen (Naprosyn®, Inza®, Proxen®,
Naprogesic ®)
□ Tramadol (Tramal®, Zydol®)
MODERATE TO SEVERE PAIN
□ Oxycodone (Endone®)
□ Oxycodone (OxyContin®)
□ Morphine (MS Contin®)
medical officers usually do a maths conversion of the amount of opiates that a person is using. This allows The prescribers to judge what level of opiate dependance/intoxication is and what the target for maintenance would be. example would be a person taking x amount of neurophen plus would need approximately x amount of a opiate maintenence to achieve the same afect the person is getting with the physical harms done from injesting the OTS combinations. Also there is the opportunity for GP's to prescribe codiene phosphate by itself.
More info taken from the
Chronic Pain Management Clinical Flowchart
When opiates are to be trialled:
Opiate Equivalence Table
Opiate equivalence tables are useful when transferring between
medications, including the commencement of supervised dosing
of methadone or buprenorphine for the management of opiate
dependence.
The following medications are roughly equivalent
over a 24-hour period (based on Therapeutic Guidelines):
• Codeine 240mg
• Morphine 40mg
• Methadone 10-15mg
• Oxycodone 20-30mg
• Buprenorphine 2-4mg
Pasted this here as 1+1 doesnt always =2 in medication land
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also there are a few other things that need to be taken into account-
the Zinberg model; there are three things that effect a drug use experience
The drug- quality and purity of the substance (eg ice being crystal but poor quality)
Set- this can be the mind set and physical setting, which would include your health both physical and mental, the amount of times that you have taken the drug ( eg is there a tolerance of has there been one) and
perception of how it affects you physically and mentally. the perception that that is the only true form of pleasure will reinforce desire and can change the structure of the brain/body itself if repeated enough ( eg tolerance & Psychological preoccupation)
Setting the environment in which the use occurs, safety, available stimuli either positive, negative or absent,
Some further information taken from
yapa website
Some of the aspects of the person that can affect substance use and its consequences are:
* Health
* Nutrition
* Other substances used by the person
* Levels of support
* Expectations
For example, we may have three people of the same gender, same age, and drinking the same substance in the same establishment, yet all three may react in a very different way.
1. Person 1 may be having a great time, laughing and singing.
2. Person 2 may be crying in the corner, feeling depressed about his life.
3. Person 3 may be aggressive and fighting others for whatever reason.
As you can see, three people are responding in quite different ways to the same substance in the same environment.
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thats why its good to have a solid set of harm reduction practices for any drug use- esp IV opiates such as the ones i posted above:
Knowledge:
some good rules to run by when it comes to buying opiates:heroin comes in all kinds of colours and powdered forms so looking at it does not help much at all. I would suggest buying a maquis reagent tester. available at all good stores near you. that way you can screen out many different types of substances, such as amphetamine etc. The tester does not indicate what strength the substance is though, if injecting or otherwise i would go by what someone once said regaring opiates : "you can always do more later, if you have not done enough... If you done too much, you wont be doing much later (OD)"
this includes mixing alcohol and benzos with opiates- its a dangerous combo that potentiates (multiplies) each substances affects, mixing all of these depressants leads to increased risk of harm. Harm can include going on the nod in a physical position where blood is cut off to a limb resulting in having to have it amputated (have seen happen a few times), or serious respitory depression (stopping breathing) as good as the ambulance are- if you stop breathing for a period of time you can do permenent brain damage or neurological damage in different parts of the body.
Judging amounts:
always start off small, each person has a different biopsycho makeup. what is enough for you may be more than enough for someone else or not enough for some one developing a tolerance. 0.1 gram or 0.05 of a gram may be enough to get you going depending on the purity and strength of the substace and how you decide to administer it to yourself. Start very slow. Sometimes people will sell diverted opiates such as that from prescriptions or even worse diverted from opiate treatment clinics (diverted from mouth and reformed, bacteria and all being injected straight into the body)
Plan for Saftey:
*Never use alone
* always use new injecting equiptment from a needle and syringe program, never share spoons either as you never know if someone else is reusing a dirty needle
* pill filters are a great way to reduce the chalk and bacteria while injecting,
*you cant tell the dose by looking at a substances colour, reports by another user are said from the context of their experience
* use much less than you think, you can always re dose later and learn from that experience to judge what may be a right starting point for you next time should the gear be the same
*should someone drop or have comprimised breating call an ambulance straight away,
* know first Aid if posible, have a contingency plan with the other person you are using with " if i drop (OD) call the ambulance" understnd that if you give first aid such as mouth to mouth there is the possiblity of virus transmisson