The Socially Acceptable History of Morphine

Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and

Drugs have had a noteworthy effect on American history since the establishing of the main English state at Jamestown in 1607. Indeed, even as drugs, lawful or not, have added to the development of the country 's economy, Americans have attempted to discover approaches that point of quarantine drugs’ negative impacts on society without producing negative reactions of their own. Also, if drugs have existed since the start, so have drug issues or addictions. Thus have undertakings to take care of those drug issues.

Opium use during the 17th and 18th century the use of opiates was positive and no one saw the harmful effects it could bring. Morphine, heroin, and oxycontin were widely used for helping with pain. In the turn of the 19th century people were having concerns of the side effects of these opiate drugs as well as the health risks that these drugs were bringing about. These drugs were highly addictive and once people were hooked onto the opiate it was very hard to get them off and this was leading to deaths and this was scaring people. Eventually in the 20th century the government saw the risks involved with legal drug use and they started putting regulation over the opiates. They would make the drugs illegal and if people were caught using they

During his research, Quinones documents the origin of opiate use within the United States in three areas: drug cartels, overprescription from medical practitioners, and the pharmaceutical companies. He claims that illegal use spurred from drug cartels when he notes, “... heroin in Denver originated in one small town in Mexico… a town called Xalisco” (43). However, even though opioids were common in the black market, the drug cartels were not the sole culprits of increasing the risk of addiction. Many Americans used the drugs for medicinal reasons. In a town named Portsmouth, people grew increasingly dependent on opiates during the 90s: “In this part of the country, anything that relieved pain was welcome. But opiates … quickly led to addiction” (Quinones 26). People that were just looking for some treatment soon had a deadlier problem on their hands— addiction. Since the public was looking for a solution for pain, the pharmaceutical companies were hungry to promote opioids for pain management. The industry, according to Quinones, was just starting to produce the deadly drug, and wanted the public to use its

The opium epidemic is leading many Americans down a path that will ruin not only their lives but their loved ones also. “Safe Injections Sites” will only raise addiction rates and opium consumption in the United

Drugs first surfaced in the United States in the 1800s. After the Civil War opium become very popular and was used medicinally. Following opium was cocaine which was also used as a health remedy but near the end of the 19th century opium and cocaine abuse peaked and local governments began to prohibit opium dens and importation. In 1914 the first federal drug policy, the Harrison Narcotics act, is passed and drugs are no longer seen as harmless remedies. The act aggressively regulated the manufacturing of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and morphine. During the 50’s more federal drug policies were passed and drugs began to become more criminalized. The 60’s saw a rise in counter-culture and substances such as marijuana and LSD saw widespread use. The demand for drugs skyrocketed in the 1960s. In 1971 President Nixon declared drug abuse America 's number one enemy and proclaimed that we must wave a all out offensive. After President Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, the United States has spent more than a trillion dollars on this failing policy that not only has had no effect on the amount of drugs being used in the United States and has increased the number of people incarcerated on drug charges from just 50,000 to over half a million, but also has helped fuel drug cartels and foment violence and death through overdoses from uncontrolled drug potency and turf wars between street gangs.

In late 1800s to 1916 pharmacists?, chemical manufacturers have foreseen a way to make a non-addictive opioid. Heroin, marketed by the Bayer Corporation of Germany in the 1890s, was originally at the beginning of this. After heroin?s ban in America, two German scientists created oxycodone. It was

Depending on the source, some would term the heroin and opioid problem in the United States a crisis, while others would use the word epidemic. Regardless of which expression is more accurate, the situation regarding heroin and opioid use, abuse and dependence has ignited national, if not global concern. History shows us that pervasive dilemmas have a tendency to cultivate a variety of intervention and the heroin and opioid crisis is no different.

For most of our history, drug use has been legal for recreational, religious, and medicinal purposes. During the 19th century, opium, morphine, and cocaine could be purchased over-the-counter to treat medical conditions such as menstrual cramps, teething pain, coughs, depression, and even addiction (Hellerman). On December 17, 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was introduced which heavily restricted the use of narcotics, and was based on racial fears and discrimination. The drafters of the bill stated that “negroes under the influence of drugs were murdering whites, degenerate Mexicans were smoking marijuana, and “chinamen” were seducing white women with drugs” (Huggins). Regardless of the restrictions placed on narcotics, the 20th century followed the

Morphine is a highly addictive opiate psychoactive painkiller. It is often used before or after surgery to alleviate severe pain. Morphine acts by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. The drug was originally derived from the poppy seed plant before it was chemically enhanced and manufactured. Starting off, the drug was used to cure alcoholism and certain types of addictions. This didn’t last very long considering morphine was found to be much more addictive than alcohol. In the early 1900s, morphine was identified as a controlled substance under the Harrison Act. The Harrison Act was put in place to control morphine by making it only legal for those

Introduction - Use of psychoactive substances for recreational purposes is not a radically new social issue. In fact, history tells us that almost every society had their own pharmacopeia of herbs, potions, and substances that not only contributed to healing, but also allowed the user to escape reality (Schules 1992, 4-5). However, it is the contemporary use of psychoactive drugs purchased through illicit or illegal channels and used by persons neither prescribed nor in quantities larger than necessary that defines modern drug abuse (Robins 2006). Prior to World War I, substances like morphine, heroin, and cocaine were available in the major American cities, particularly those with active international ports. For instance, when Chinese immigrants were first imported to work in the mines and railroads during the early 1800s, they brought opium to America. It was the leisure class, who began to experiment with this drug, and, as in Europe, many major U.S. cities had so-called opium dens. In addition, there were a substantial number of "society women" who ended up addicted because their doctor prescribed this drug to deal with female histrionics or to "cure" an excessive sexual appetite (Johnson 2002). Within major cities, this problem began to spill over into other groups: prostitutes, child laborers, orphans, and even men and women of lower social classes seeking to escape the harshness of their lives (Courtwright 2002, 3-19). Between the widespread use and general

Mothers and nurses were giving children heroin-filled soothing syrups to treat a cold, or simply to “soothe” them to sleep. The journalist said, “the systematic doping of the delicate organisms of infants with these subtle and powerful drugs [was] practiced everywhere remorselessly or in desperate ignorance of its consequences.” The involvement of innocent children in the drug problem evokes a sense of urgency; however, the article does not just appeal to the reader’s emotions. Rather it is substantive, providing insight about what was happening in politics and medicine at the time. There was an attempt to investigate and try to regulate the medical use of opiates and other questionable drugs. The author cited an investigation by the Division of Drugs in the Bureau of Chemistry that found that soothing syrups often contained drugs such as powdered opium, chloroform, codeine, and cannabis, in combination or in place of heroin. It also referenced the action taken by pharmacists in Philadelphia to only sell these habit-forming “remedies” with a doctor’s approval or prescription. When looking at this article in a broad sense, one can see the change in mindset by medical authorities--which only ten years prior saw heroin as a great innovation in medicine.

In the 1850s, Chinese immigrants introduced opium smoking when they came to California. By the 1890s, opium dens were common in American society. Opium was then followed by morphine, laudanum, paregoric and codeine. The use of these drugs became even more local with the adoption of the hypodermic syringe. Morphine use actually became popular for pain relief during the American Civil War, resulting in much unwitting addiction.

Heroin is a highly addictive, illegal drug. This drug is made from the milky sap-like resin that is found in a poppy plant.” The first time you use heroine that introductory experience starts a compulsive cycle that can quickly lead to addiction” (Wandler 2016) but this is just the beginning. When consuming heroine, some symptoms of use are dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, and severe slow breathing that can lead to a coma or permanent brain damage. In the 1850s, opium, an addictive drug similar to heroine was a major problem in the United States. The solution to this problem was supposedly a “non- addictive” drug called morphine. Morphine soon became a bigger problem than the Opium; scientist tried another non-addictive drug

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.