ANYONE

what is the difference between an opiod and an opiate?  i always thought they were the same thing?!

[marcatj]

beats me...

[VOsRose]

I don't know, either.  It may be that one is a pure narcotic and the other is a derivative??  I'm sure an expert will jump in and answer this.  Sorry.

[GA Guy]

OK..I may be wrong..but the way I understand it is that they are all opiods. Opiates are just naturally occurring opiods like codeine, heroin, and morphine. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[DeezNuts]

An opioid is a chemical substance. synthetic

Opiate being natural. I think.

opiade being derived from the original opiate poppy

[tippy1124]

I did a little research because I wasn't exactly sure what the difference is either, so maybe this will help:

In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic alkaloids found in opium.  Opiate has traditionally referred to not only the alkaloids in opium, but also natural and semi-synthetic derivatives of morphine (itself an opiate). The term is often incorrectly used to refer to all drugs with opium- or morphine-like pharmacological action, which are more properly classified under the broader term opioid.


An opioid is a chemical substance that has a morphine-like action in the body. The main use is for pain relief. These agents work by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects, and the undesirable side effects.

  

[beachtowel]

An opioid is a chemical substance that has a morphine-like action in the body. The main use is for pain relief. These agents work by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects, and the undesirable side effects. There are five broad classes of narcotics:

endogenous opioid peptides (opioids produced naturally in the body);
opiates, such as the naturally occurring alkaloids, morphine and codeine and also heroin (processed morphine);
semi-synthetic opioids, created from the natural opioids, such as hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone;
fully synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, pethidine , methadone, and propoxyphene;
Although the term opiate is often used as a synonym for opioid, it is more properly limited to the natural opium alkaloids and the semi-synthetics derived from them.


For other uses see Opiate (disambiguation), or for the class of drugs see Opioid.

In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic alkaloids found in opium.