While I agree with the general thrust of your argument, this point is incorrect. It's not difficult to unintentionally overdose on Opium. Not at all.
When I think consuming opium, I conjure images of old chinese artwork where they are smoking it in a hookah type instrument.
The Opioid overdoses are mostly Fentanyl and other extracts from opium. I'm not an expert, but if I am understanding correctly, it seems easier access to Opium which may be, according to the GP, hard to OD on, would reduce the Opioid OD epidemic.
Opium has three primary constituents, morphine, codeine, thebaine. An opioid, roughly, is anything which agonizes opioid receptors, which are mu, delta, and kappa. mu-receptor agonists specifically are usually what people are referring to when they use the term 'opioid'.
Morphine, which is an opiate (an opioid, but one that is derived from opium), is what usually produces death during an opium overdose (it also happens to be alkaloid which produces most of the desirable effect).
You can look up morphine ld50 numbers to get an idea of how much morphine it would take to kill somebody. While morphine is the principal opioid at work in opium, it is still only a tiny % of the opium's total volume.
>When I think consuming opium, I conjure images of old chinese artwork where they are smoking it in a hookah type instrument.
It being smoked also makes it considerably safer. Users pass out before overdose.
>The Opioid overdoses are mostly Fentanyl and other extracts from opium.
Correct. Morphine is a somewhat strong opioid in its own right, but it doesn't even hold a candle to the more powerful opioids science has discovered. Not even close.
The strength of an opioid is often described in morphine equivalents, that is how much of x is comparable to the same amount of morphine.
Fentanyl is roughly 50x as powerful as morphine, which makes it a rather dangerous compound for untrained people to handle, especially to inject. That being said, as long as the dosages are measured correctly, fentanyl is not significantly more dangerous than any other commonly used opioid. It's the black market dynamics which make it particularly prone to kill users.
Fentanyl is also nowhere near the most powerful opioid being sold on the street either. The literature has opioids that are, roughly, several thousand times as powerful as morphine.
Meaning if it takes on average 1g of pure morphine to kill a human, less than a single mg of some of the stronger fentanyl analogs can be sufficient enough to kill. Much lower if injected.
This is what is killing everybody. Some fentanyl analogs are close to chemical weapons in terms of potency, and drug dealers with a 3rd grade equivalent education are handling it like they would cocaine or similar.
https://www.oregonpainguidance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/0...
Read above. Orally, it's a strong emetic. Unless a user takes vastly more than a normal dose for their body weight, they will vomit and be fine. Opium, when smoked, is even safer as users pass out well before overdose.
It is easier to overdose on acetaminophen, and many other things you can pick up over the counter at your local pharmacy.
> It is even easier to OD on its extracts (specifically morphine)
Yes, but this is why I am using the word opium, and not morphine.
> its synthetic analogues (fentanyl).
Fentanyl is not an analog of anything found in opium, it's an entirely different molecule with no relationship whatsoever to the traditional opiates.
The alkaloids in opium are STRONG emetics. While it is certainly possible to fatally overdose, it is far more likely one would vomit for a few hours and be fine, assuming they did not consume far above a 'normal' amount for their bodyweight.
Which, by the way, is true of alcohol as well.
We are tricked into discussing drug prohibition as if it is intended to protect the public. It never was and never will be.
The fact that we sell alcohol and tobacco ends any discussion over "safe" drug use.
Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it.
Anything else is misguided misery at best.
When it comes to opioids, legalized alone opium would alleviate vast swathes of death and suffering. Many of the same arguments made for cannabis legalization also apply to opium. It's difficult to unintentionally overdose on, there are no serious long term health detriments aside from dependency and constipation (and testosterone decrease). The poppy has been cultivated by humans for as long as wheat has, it is only recently recently it became so demonized.
And most importantly, it would largely eliminate the demand for black market heroin/fentanyl. Opium is a combination of 3 alkaloids, morphine, codeine, thebaine. Heroin is just acetylated morphine which allows for more total morphine to cross the BBB, it's still morphine which produces most of the effect users desire.
And most importantly, it allows opioid users a strong, easy to access, cheap, legal alternative to being sick.
Even though there would still be some demand, black market suppliers could not compete price wise, so the black market would be eliminated very quickly. The DRAMATIC price reduction will also make the financial effects of opioid dependency much less devastating.