Heroin

Heroin, or diamorphine, is a semisynthetic opioid made from morphine. It produces pain relief and euphoria, carries a high risk of dependence, and can suppress breathing to a fatal degree.

Morphine: Morphine is an opioid alkaloid used to relieve severe pain and the chemical precursor from which heroin is synthesized. Heroin is produced by chemically modifying this opioid.
Opioid use disorder: Opioid use disorder is a medical condition involving a problematic pattern of opioid use and clinically significant impairment or distress. Persistent heroin use can develop into this disorder.
C. R. Alder Wright: C. R. Alder Wright was an English chemist who first synthesized diacetylmorphine in 1874. His synthesis produced the compound later known as heroin.
Fentanyl: Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used medically for severe pain and associated with substantial overdose risk. Unlike heroin, it is fully synthetic and considerably more potent by weight.
6-Monoacetylmorphine: 6-Monoacetylmorphine is an active metabolite formed when the body breaks down heroin. This metabolite reaches the brain quickly and contributes to heroin’s effects.
Opioid overdose: Opioid overdose is poisoning from excessive opioid effects, often marked by unconsciousness and dangerously slowed breathing. Heroin can cause fatal overdose by suppressing respiration.
Felix Hoffmann: Felix Hoffmann was a German chemist at Bayer associated with the commercial development of heroin and aspirin. Bayer marketed heroin as a medicine after Hoffmann’s laboratory work.
Oxycodone: Oxycodone is a semisynthetic opioid prescribed for moderate to severe pain. It is a medically prescribed opioid with a different chemical structure and formulation.
Opioid receptor: An opioid receptor is a cell-surface protein that responds to endogenous opioid peptides and opioid drugs. Heroin-derived molecules produce effects largely by activating these receptors.
Naloxone: Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses opioid effects by blocking opioid receptors. It can restore breathing during a heroin overdose while emergency care is arranged.

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