Morphine

**Morphine** (INN) (IPA: ) is a drug which belongs to the opiate pain killer class. It is the principal active agent in natural opium latex and the prototypical opiate. Brand-name or specially bred poppies contained more codeine than morphine and then more thebaine (to synthesize codeine or naloxone) and outside poppies do not generally contain morphine or codeine. Morphine comes in oral form as tablets or powder. It can be injected into a vein (intravenous), eaten, or put in a body cavity such as the anus or vagina. 

In the body, heroin is converted into morphine among other things. In real life about 70% of morphine is used to make other opioids such as hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and heroin.  

Like other opioids, e.g. diacetylmorphine (heroin), morphine acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to relieve pain, and at synapses of the nucleus accumbens in particular. Morphine is highly addictive when compared to other substances (but not some of the other opiates), and tolerance and physical-mental dependences develop very rapidly. Extended-release, long-acting formulations of morphine are sold under the brand names MS Contin and Kadian, among others. Generic long-acting formulations are also available.

Morphine is marketed under multiple different brand names in different parts of the world. It used to be called Morphia in British English. It is a Schedule II drug in the United States, and Schedule I in Canada.

Patients on morphine sometimes say they have insomnia, visual hallucinations and nightmares.

It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. In 2023, it was the 156th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 3million prescriptions. It is available as a generic medication.

## Medical uses 
Morphine is used as a pain killer in hospital settings for: 
* pain after surgery
* pain associated with trauma

* In severe chronic pain, e.g.
** Cancer pain
** Kidney stones
** Back pain
* As an adjunct to general pain killers, such as paracetamol
* In epidural anesthesia or intrathecal analgesia (uses with an anesthetic) 
* For palliative care (i.e. to lessen pain without curing the underlying reason for it in the patients last moments. This is often done for patients with incurable diseases)
* As a medication for severe cough, like codeine was originally used for (but today this is mostly done with dextromethorphan if any opioid is used)
* As an antidiarrheal in chronic conditions (e.g., for diarrhea associated with AIDS), although loperamide (a non-absorbed opioid acting only on the gut) is the most commonly used opioid for diarrhea.

## History 
Morphine was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, which is generally believed to be the first ever isolation of a natural plant alkaloid in history. Sertürner began distributing it in 1817, and Merck began marketing it commercially in 1827. At the time, Merck was a single small chemists' shop. Morphine was more widely used after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1857. 

Sertürner originally named the substance *morphium* after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus (Greek: Μορφεύς), for its tendency to cause sleep.[2] Morpheus is the god of dreams in Greek mythology. He is the son of Hypnos, god of sleep.

The name of the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum) is "papaver" for poppy, and "somni - ferum" which means "sleep bringing" in latin. 

## References