is morphine the same as heroin?

I have a question,,,is morphine sulfate the same as heroin?

my brother dating a girl that takes two 30mg of morphine three times daily,,,,

just wondering,,,,,if morphine is the same as heroin,,,i heard this and dont know how true it is.



Thanks~

 

no its not exactly the same,it is in the same family though. Heroin,opium,and morphine are are in the same family.

 

heroin is di acetyl morphine. Morphine with a lil chemical group attached to it, so different chemical.

 

^^^Completely correct, also for the OPs benefit, Morphine and Heroin both derive(come from) the poppy plant.

http://media.modbee.com/smedia/2008...408_08a12poppy.embedded.prod_affiliate.11.jpg

 

thanks for the responses

 

You could consider heroin the final product that goes from stages-> poppy plants -> raw opium -> [SIZE=-1]morphine hydrochloride -[/SIZE]> diacetylmorphine hydrochloride (heroin.) You could, and people do, consume something on any stage of this process... For example, poppy seed tea, poppy paste, raw opium, morphine, and then finally heroin.

You can synthesize heroin from morphine via 2 stage acetylation very easily.

You could, if you were so inclined, with not much more trouble synthesize morphine from various codeine phosphates found in various over the counter pain pills that are available in countries that aren't the USA. You'd need a lot of pills though, and would first have to extract the codeine phosphates from whatever else they put in there that you don't want (aspirin, acetominophen, ibuprofen, binding agents, etc.)

 

Heroin is derived from morphine, but it is not the same thing.

 

heroin is rapidly metabolized into morphine by your body upon ingesting it. almost like how psilocybin is converted to psilocin. your body literally changes heroin into morphine.

 

the acetyl groups on H allow the molecule to penetrate the blood brain barrier more easily than M...