Opiates, Opioids Intoxication

Abstract

Opiates are the psychoactive products found in the opium/poppy plant, mainly morphine and codeine. Opioids designate a larger family of chemical compounds that are similar to morphine in their action (e.g.: heroin hydrocodone, oxycodone, fentanyl). The use of opiates is as old as written human history and is well described in the antiquity by Hippocrates. Opioids receptors were discovered in the early 1970s. There are three known opioid receptors: μ, δ and κ. They regulate response to pain and other processes such as hunger, thirst, and breathing. Opioids also downregulate GABA which results in upregulation.