Opiates
Andersen Geffrard & Justin Ward
What are Opiates?
Opiates are a group of drugs that are used for treating pain. Opiates go by a variety of names including opiates, opioids, and narcotics.Opiates are pills you take for relieving pain.
Used for Medication and With Other Drugs
Opiates are yes used for medication, they are for relieving some pains in your body.Opiate pain relievers suppress your perception of pain and calm your emotional response to pain. These drugs reduce not only the number of pain signals sent by the nervous system.
Ways They Can Be Taken
Phyisical and Phycological effects
When an opiate such as heroin enters the brain it is converted into morphine which binds with molecules effecting many areas of th brain, overdoses are frequently caused by suppression of breathing. "Hypotia can have short and long term phycological and neurological effects, including coma and permanant brain damage."
How long do these effects last?
Depending on the intensity of the effects they can be long or short term possibly could reslut in death.
Tolerance for Opoids
"Opiate tolerance develops in a similiar manner regardless of whatever the drug of choice is: heroin, morphine, etc. The tolerence starts at the cellular level by binding to the opiate receptors in your brain. This triggers the ihibirited release of the adenylate cyclase enzyme which is responsible for causing the firing of various chemicals within a cell."
Laws on Opoiates
"President Bush signed Bill H.R.6344 into law. This allows physicians who have been certified to prescribe certain drugs for the treatment of opioid dependence under DATA2000 to treat up to 100 patients (up from 30) by submitting an "intent" notification to the Dept of Health and Human Services. This is a major step forward in both fighting the stigma and allowing access to treatment previously not available to some"- naabt.org. These laws stated were adressed in 2006. As of now these laws remain relevant. Patients are given a perscription with the opiate that may not be abused or else it could lead to serious effects.
Programs to Help Addicts
Today there are many sources that any opiate drug addict could reach out to for help. This includes pharmacological science, physcologyical therapy, methadone maintenance, and suboxone therapy.