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Narcotics, or opiates, bind to specific opioid receptors in the CNS and elsewhere in the body. These receptors mediate the opiate effects of analgesia, euphoria, respiratory depression, and constipation. Endogenous opiate peptides (enkephalins and endorphins) are natural ligands for the opioid receptors and play a role in analgesia, memory, learning, reward, mood regulation, and stress tolerance.
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The prototypic opiates, morphine and codeine, are derived from the juice of the opium poppy. The semisynthetic drugs produced from morphine include hydromorphone (Dilaudid), diacetylmorphine (heroin), and oxycodone (OxyContin). The purely synthetic opioids and their cousins include meperidine, propoxyphene, diphenoxylate, fentanyl, buprenorphine, tramadol, methadone, and pentazocine. All produce analgesia and euphoria as well as physical dependence when taken in high enough doses for prolonged periods of time.
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The 0.1% annual prevalence of heroin dependence in the United States is only about one-third the rate of prescription opiate abuse and is substantially lower than the 2% rate of morphine dependence in parts of Asia. Since 2007, prescription opiates have surpassed marijuana as the most common illicit drug that adolescents initially abuse.
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All opiates have the following CNS effects: sedation, euphoria, decreased pain perception, decreased respiratory drive, and vomiting. In larger doses, markedly decreased respirations, bradycardia, pupillary miosis, stupor, and coma ensue. Additionally, the adulterants used to “cut” street drugs (quinine, phenacetin, strychnine, antipyrine, caffeine, powdered milk) can produce permanent neurologic damage, including peripheral neuropathy, amblyopia, myelopathy, and leukoencephalopathy; adulterants can also produce an “allergic-like” reaction characterized by decreased alertness, frothy pulmonary edema, and an elevation in blood eosinophil count.
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Tolerance and withdrawal commonly occur with chronic daily use after 6–8 weeks depending on the dose and frequency; the ever-increasing amounts of drug needed to sustain euphoriant effects and avoid discomfort of withdrawal strongly reinforce dependence once started.
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Withdrawal produces nausea and diarrhea, coughing, lacrimation, mydriasis, rhinorrhea, diaphoresis, twitching muscles, piloerection, fever, tachypnea, hypertension, diffuse body pain, insomnia, and yawning.
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With shorter-acting opiates such as heroin, morphine, or oxycodone, withdrawal signs begin 8–16 h after the last dose, peak at 36–72 h, and subside over 5–8 days. With longer-acting opiates such as methadone, withdrawal begins several days after the last dose, peaks at 7–10 days, and lasts several weeks.
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TREATMENT: NARCOTIC ABUSE OVERDOSE
High doses of opiates, whether taken in a suicide attempt or accidentally when potency is misjudged, are potentially lethal. Toxicity occurs immediately after IV administration and with a variable delay after oral ingestion. Symptoms include miosis, shallow respirations, bradycardia, hypothermia, and stupor or coma.
Managing overdose requires support of vital functions, including intubation if needed.
The opiate antagonist naloxone is given at 0.4–2 mg IV or IM with an expected response within 1–2 min; repeated doses, ...