One of history’s most important yet dangerous discoveries was morphine—a derivative of the opium poppy plant. German scientist Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner (1783–1841), who first produced the water-soluble, crystalline white powder in 1804, named it after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, because of its trancelike effect on patients. With the invention of the hypodermic needle in 1853, doctors put morphine into widespread use as a painkiller.

A narcotic, morphine relieves pain and anxiety, but also impairs mental and physical performance. It can decrease hunger and sex drive, inhibit the cough reflex, and interfere with a woman’s menstrual cycle. Useful in treating pain caused by cancer and other conditions for which other analgesic medicines have failed, morphine also has a calming effect that protects the body against traumatic shock, internal bleeding, and congestive heart failure.

When it was first introduced, morphine was erroneously used as a cure for opium and alcohol addictions because doctors believed that addiction to morphine was less harmful than other chemical dependencies. Morphine quickly replaced opium as a medical cure-all and was readily available at drugstores as an over-the-counter and recreational drug throughout the late 19th century.

Like other narcotic drugs, however, morphine is very addictive. It produces feelings of euphoria, quickly causing cravings and tolerance—that is, the need for higher and higher doses in order to achieve the same results. Physical and psychological dependence is also common, and withdrawal from morphine can cause nausea, chills, sweating, and even stroke or heart attack. Self-detoxification can be dangerous. Experts agree that the best way to get off—and stay off—morphine is in an inpatient drug rehabilitation center. Treatment may result in addiction to other drugs (such as methadone) used to control withdrawal symptoms. However, medical maintenance is preferable to illegal addiction and can lead to complete withdrawal from drug dependency.

Today morphine is tightly regulated, and more than 1,000 tons of the drug are extracted from opium plants annually. Morphine can be converted into the illegal drug heroin and into other prescription painkillers, including methylmorphine (codeine).

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. During the American Civil War, in which morphine was frequently used to treat wounded soldiers, up to 400,000 veterans became addicted to the drug, a condition that became known as soldier’s disease.
  2. It’s estimated that more than 1 million people worldwide are on methadone maintenance programs to treat a narcotics addiction.
  3. Morphine’s physical impact is so powerful that babies born to women who took the drug during pregnancy may suffer withdrawal symptoms after leaving the womb.