The Opium Poppy (Papaver Somniferum) is the most infamous flower in the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over it, people have been subjugated because of it, and along the way it has been used medically and recreationally since as early as 5000B.C. Just what makes this plant so special? Take a look beyond the beauty of the petals and the pod and you’ll find out.

Alkaloids

There are a large variety of alkaloids within the poppy sap (i.e. opium). These are why the poppy has remained such an important force in the development of human culture, medicine and civilization. The alkaloids are divided into two chemical classes; isoquinolines and phenanthrenes.
Isoquinolines don’t have any significant effect on the CNS and therefore are considered useless, so governments tend to leave them as unregulated compounds.
Phenanthrenes are considered the magic within the poppy. The most common (both in percentage weight and in extraction for use) phenanthrenes are Morphine, codeine, and thebaine. Conversely just about every government heavily regulates these alkaloids.
Many people, when seeing that morphine and codeine are both natural opiates within opium, tend to underestimate the vastly important role that thebaine plays in semi-synthetic opioid production.
Thebaine is like an odd man out – while both morphine and Codeine have sedating effects and relax the body via the CNS, thebaine does the opposite. It is a stimulant, but once chemically altered is responsible for many narcotic pain killers and products to wean one off of opiate addiction such as oxycodone, oxymorphone, naloxone and buprennorphine to name but a few.


Opiates and Opioids: What’s the difference?

Opiate is an often-misused term. Any drug which affects the opioid receptors is often incorrectly labeled an opiate, however definitionally the opiates refer to alkaloids extracted from poppy pods and their semi-synthetic counterparts which bind to the opioid receptors. Basically to be called an opiate one has to either be a natural opioid receptor agonist or start the refining process with one of the natural alkaloid molecules. Once chemically altered, such as the process of converting Morphine into Heroin, the drug is then labeled a semi-synthetic opiate or semi-synthetic opioid - the terms can be used interchangeably. This distinction can be a little confusing since Morphine, Codeine and Thebaine are all pure alkaloids that bind to the Opioid receptors, but Papaverine, which is also a naturally occurring alkaloid inside the poppy pod is not an opiate because it does not act on the opioid receptors.
So Natural Opiates are Morphine, Codiene and Thebaine.
Semi-synthetic opiates (or semi-synthetic opioids) are Heroin (diamorphine), Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Dihydrocodiene, Hydromorphone, Oxymorphone, Buprenorphine, Etorphine, Naloxone and Nicomorphine.

Opioid is a blanket term used for any drug which binds to the opioid receptors in the CNS. Opioids include all of the opiates as well as any synthesized drug that attaches itself to the CNS or gastrointestinal tract opioid receptors.
Synthetic Opioids include Methadone, Pethidine (Demerol), Fentanyl Alfentanil, Sufentanil, Remifentanil, Carfentanyl Pentazocine, Phenazocine, Tramadol, and Loperamide.

Effects

Opium, Opiates and Opioids all produce similar effects. At low doses they make highly effective painkillers, and at medium to high doses produce euphoria, nausea, sleepiness, “a warm fuzzy” feeling and a sense of peace. They are extremely addictive both mentally and physically and withdrawals from the drugs can be quite intense with effects including but not limited to suicidal thoughts, cold sweats, uncontrollable diarrhea, immobility, sleeplessness, abnormal body temperature and heartbeat and severe depression. Once addicted, these substances are extremely hard to get away from and are capable of ruining ones live completely. The severity of all addictions depend a lot upon the vulnerability of the user towards addiction in general. But none the less this class of substances are extremely dangerous in this regard and should be treated with the utmost respect.