Sentences with phrase «synthetic opioids such»

There are four broad classes of opioids: endogenous opioid peptides, produced in the body; opium alkaloids, such as morphine (the prototypical opioid) and codeine; semi-synthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone; and fully synthetic opioids such as pethidine and methadone that have structures unrelated to the opium alkaloids.

Not exact matches

Center stage on what experts consider to be a worsening opioid crisis are heroin and the synthetic opioid fentanyl — 30 to 40 times more potent than heroin by weight — and fentanyl - related medicines such as carfentanil — 300 to 400 times stronger than heroin by weight, said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

And those drugs are sometimes spiked with more potent opioids such as fentanyl (SN: 9/3/16, p. 14) or even carfentanil, a synthetic opioid that's used to tranquilize elephants.