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Morphine Effects

Morphine, a narcotic , directly effects the central nervous system. Besides relieving pain, Morphine's effects impair mental and physical performance, relieves fear and anxiety, and produces euphoria. Morphine's effects also decreases hunger, inhibits the cough reflex, produces constipation, and usually reduces the sex drive; in women it may interfere with the menstrual cycle. Morphine's euphoric effects can be highly addictive. Tolerance (the need for higher and higher doses to maintain the same effect) and physical and psychological dependence develop quickly.

Morphine effects include but are not limited to:

  • relieves pain
  • impairment of mental and physical performance
  • relief of fear and anxiety
  • euphoria
  • decease in hunger
  • inhibiting the cough reflex

Another one of morphine's effects is addiction. Tolerance (the need for higher and higher doses to maintain the same effect) and physical and psychological dependence to morphine's effects develop quickly. Withdrawal from morphine causes nausea, tearing, yawning, chills, and sweating lasting up to three days. Morphine crosses the placental barrier, and babies born to morphine-using mothers go through withdrawal.

Morphine activates the brain's reward systems. The promise of reward is very intense, causing the individual to crave the drug and to focus his or her activities around taking morphine. The ability of morphine to strongly activate brain reward mechanisms and its ability to chemically alter the normal functioning of these systems can produce an addiction. Morphine effects also reduce a person’s level of consciousness, harming the ability to think or be fully aware of present surroundings.

Morphine is a narcotic analgesic. Morphine was first isolated from opium in 1805 by a German pharmacist, Wilhelm Serturner. Serturner described it as the Principium Somniferum. He named it morphium - after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Today morphine is isolated from opium in substantially larger quantities - over 1000 tons per year - although most commercial opium is converted into codeine by methylation. On the illicit market, opium gum is filtered into morphine base and then synthesized into heroin.

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