Understanding Opioids and Opiates: The Science of Addiction, Lifesaving Facts, and How to Find Help

This article is intended to help you learn about opioids and opiates as well as provide you with resources for treatment. Opioids and Opiates are highly addictive with a high possibility of overdose which may lead to death. The misuse of prescription opioids started in the 1990s (NIDA, 2024).

The misuse quickly turned into a public health crisis, often referred to as the opioid epidemic. In 2013, the illegal production and distribution of Fentanyl began causing an increase in overdoses nationwide.

What Is the Difference Between Opiates and Opioids?

According to the Alcohol Drug Addiction Institute at the University of Washington, there are two categories of opioids: heroin and other opioids such as Methadone and other natural and semi-synthetic opioids; codeine and morphine, etc.

To better understand what is entering the body, they are generally classified into three distinct categories:

• Natural Opiates: Opium, Heroin, Morphine, Codeine, Thebaine
• Synthetic Opiates: Norco, Demerol, Atarax, Lortab, Fentanyl, Dilaudid
• Semisynthetic Opiates: Oxymorphone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone

Opioids Used for Medication Assisted Treatment for Addiction

For those undergoing recovery, specific opioids are used under medical supervision to manage cravings and withdrawal symptoms:

• Agonist Treatment: Suboxone, Subutex, Methadone, Levo-Alpha Acetyl Methadol (LAMM)
  
• Antagonist Treatment: Vivitrol, Naltrexone, Naloxone

Why Are Opioids So Highly Addictive?

Types of opioid receptors

Endorphins (the body’s natural pain killers) and Opiates have similar chemical structures, which explains why the brain so easily integrates opiates with its chemical system. Opiates occur naturally while opioids are man-made drugs that create similar effects.

Although endorphins are not always adequate in relieving pain, they are particularly important for survival. Endorphins, a type of neurotransmitter, attach to the brain’s reward center. These are the opioid receptors that then carry signals across the nervous system. When this happens immediately following an injury, the natural opiates provide enough pain relief to allow a person to escape from a traumatic or an unsafe situation. Afterwards, once it is safe, the endorphins decrease and then a person may begin to experience pain. Opioids have similar side effects.

Opiates help to relieve pain by acting on both the brain and the spinal cord. In the spinal cord opiates interfere with the transmission of the pain messages between neurons and therefore prevent them from reaching the brain. As mentioned, this may help a person from experiencing too much pain.

There are types of opiate receptors that work on different areas of the brain. Several areas of the brain are involved in the interpretation of pain messages and the response to pain. These brain regions are what allow a person to know they may be experiencing pain and that the feeling is unpleasant. Opiates also act in these regions, but they do not block pain messages themselves. Rather they change the subjective experience of pain.

The Reality of Opioids: You still feel pain, but it does not bother you anymore.

What Does the Current Opioid Epidemic Look Like?

Opioid Facts below as provided by the National Center for Health Statistics:

• Between 2023 and 2024, the age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths decreased for each category type of opioid examined.
• Drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone decreased the most (35.6%) from 2023 (22.2 deaths per 100,000 standard population) to 2024.
• A 20.7% decrease was observed in drug overdose deaths involving natural and semisynthetic opioids, declining from 2.9 to 2.3 between 2023 and 2024.
• Heroin death rates also decreased 33.3% during this period, from 1.2 to 0.8.
• For drug overdose deaths involving methadone, the rate decreased by 10.0% from 2023 (1.0) to 2024 (0.9).

According to the The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics:

• Almost 80,000 people die every year from opioid overdose.
• Nearly 9 million people misuse opioids in a year.
• Opioids are a factor in at least 7 out of every 10 overdose deaths (76%)

How Does Online Therapy for Substance Use Work?

You do not have to navigate this crisis alone.  Several of our Therapists specialize in Substance Use Disorder.

We provide individual, family, and couple support for people in active addiction, people in recovery, people wanting to work towards recovery, and people who have been harmed by other’s addicted behaviors caused by substance use using a HIPAA compliant telehealth platform,

Using a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform, we meet you exactly where you are, providing a safe, confidential environment to heal.