DISCLAIMER: Morphine and all opiate-based medication is dangerous and can be highly habit- forming, even lethal. I do not condone the use of medication used to treat post-operative and severe pain for ‘cranking out a few extra sets’. However I know there are those of you out there using morphine and many of its derivatives for this or similar purposes. The article is titled “morphine” because she is the mother of all opiates. I offer this article as an educational tool. If you do find yourself sinking into the dark abyss of addiction, help is available; you just need to take the first step and ask for it. There are also those of you who won’t develop an addiction or even an affinity for opiates. You’ll use them legally and responsibly… good for you. However you could probably learn a thing or two from this article as well.

Morphine is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in the sap of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) pod. Among many other medicinal alkaloids found in this particular species of poppy such as: codeine, papervine, and narcotine to name a few, morphine is the principal alkaloid of interest found in opium. It also causes the most euphoria, and is the most habit-forming. It was first synthesized in 1804 by the German pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner. He named the drug "morphium" after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams (14). In 1806 the drug was being used regularly to treat pain, coughs, and diarrhea (3). Exactly 100 years after its acceptance into the medical community, The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, regulating labels of patent medicines containing any ‘narcotics’’, including alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and opiates (1).
Pharmacology & Availability

Morphine is also known as “7,8-didehydro-4,5 -epoxy-17-mtehyl-morphinian-3, 6 -diol sulfate,” and has an empirical formula is C17H19NO3 (1,2,14). Morphine primarily activates the mu-opioid receptors in the Central Nervous System (CNS). Mu-opioid receptors are the receptors most responsible for causing the euphoric ‘high’ associated with opiates, hence the drug’s reputation for being one of the most euphoric of opiates; many believe even more so than heroin, although it is shorter acting with a half-life of only two to three hours (1,2). Morphine also agonizes the Kappa-opioid receptors of the CNS, which gives the drug its pain-dulling properties. According to RxList.com, “Morphine has a pKa of 7.9, with an octanol/water partition coefficient of 1.42 at pH 7.4. At this pH, the tertiary amino group is mostly ionized, making the molecule water-soluble. Morphine is significantly more water-soluble than any other opioid in clinical use.” Oral morphine has only 30% - 40% bioavailability compared to injectable preparations, which range in dose from .25 to 3 mg (2). Sustained release morphine tablets come in doses ranging from 15 to 200 mg, while the instant-release tablets are available in doses of 15 and 30 mg/tablet.

Both preparations can be abused in many ways. Yet surprisingly the drug has avoided media scrutiny in terms of its abuse potential. Unlike its synthetic cousin Oxycontin, which some pharmaceutical companies reformulated to prevent people from insulfating or injecting the drug (15), morphine has ‘flown under the radar’, so to speak. The instant release pills basically melt as soon as they touch water, and can be insulfated or made into an intra-nasal solution, even smoked. In terms of legality, don’t expect to find any ‘research chem’ suppliers carrying it, as straight morphine, or morphine preparations containing more than 50 mg per 100 ml or per 100 grams, are Schedule II in the United States. However products containing less than 50 mg per 100 ml, or per 100 grams, and which contain one or more active, non-narcotic ingredients in “recognized therapeutic amounts” are Schedule III in the United States (2). The Schedule III products are usually cough syrups, or diarrhea medications such as Paregoric, which contains 2mg/5ml of anhydrous morphine (3). In fact, a few trips to a G.I. specialist after mega-dosing magnesium or cheap creatine may yield a script for Paregoric, especially if you’ve been self-medicating your chronic diarrhea with Imodium (loperamide) for years… but that’s your call.