Cybergenesis's Guide to the recreational usage of Opiates:

Safety Precautions:

Medical Conditions

Certain medical condition may present risks when taking opiates. The following is a list of some of the most common medical situations whereas medical advice should be sought before taking an opiate.

If you suffer from severe respiratory disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or have serious breathing problems. If you are asthmatic your asthma should be under good control before using opiates.

Severe problems with your intestines or significant constipation

• Significantly low blood pressure
• Serious Head Injury or Increased Intracranial Pressure
• Epilepsy
• Hyprothyroidism

If you suffer from any serious medical condition you should seek medical advice before using an opiate.

Drug Interactions

Some medications can interact with opiates to cause unwanted or dangerous side effects. Some medications may increase or reduce the effects of opiates. If you are taking any medications you should seek medical advice to see whether or not it is safe to take opiates with your current medication. Note that it is safe to take the contraceptive pill and antibiotics in combination with opiates.

With the exception of marijuana you should never combine opiates with any other recreational drug including alcohol.

Depressants

Depressant drugs are drugs which slow or “depress” the nervous system, resulting in sedation and relaxation of the body.

Depressant drugs pose a significant risk when used in conjunction with opiates. Using depressant drugs can intensify the effects of opiates potentially resulting in a reduction of breathing and death.

Depressant drugs should NEVER be combined with opiates except under strict medical supervision.

Do not use opiates if you have recently taken any depressant drug which is still in your system. Depressant drugs include Alcohol, Benzodiazepines, Neuroleptics, and any drug which causes noticeable sedation, drowsiness, tiredness or relaxation.

Do not deliberately combine depressant drugs with opiates to try and increase the effects, this is very dangerous.

Addiction- The risks

Please note that I consider opiates, when used appropriately are less addictive than many other substances. Psychological addiction generally occurs if a user allows phystical dependence to develop, and then has an erratic usage pattern of constant running out (withdrawal) and reobtaining opiates. However some people may be especially vulnerable to addiction in general, If any of the following characteristics apply to you then you might be at increased risk for addiction to opiates:

• Highly Impulsive
• Struggle significantly with feelings of depression, anxiety, anger or “stress”.
• Are bored or unhappy with your life
• Have been previously addicted to drugs or alcohol
• Suffer from significant psychological or mental health related problems
• Have poor self control.

Research also suggests that teenagers are more vulnerable to addiction than other segments of the population. Also a history a drug addiction or alcoholism in your family probably increases the chance you are susceptible to addiction.

People who are uneducated about addiction, and do not actively try to avoid it are at higher risk of becoming addicted.

There are two main types of addiction, Physical Dependence and psychological addiction. Psychological addiction involves the craving and mental desire to use a drug. Physical dependence represents physical symptoms that occur (“Withdrawal”) if a person does not continue to use a drug that they are physically dependent upon.

Frequent usage of opiates will result in tolerance to the dosage of opiates are typically used to achieve the same results.

A moderate level of tolerance to the effects of an opiates is normal as your body simply becomes more accustomed to opiates. For example you should develop some level of tolerance to opiates during the first 3-4 usages.

Pronounced tolerance to opiates however is part of the process of addiction. If you notice that you are becoming very tolerant to the effects of an opiates at a certain dosage, you should strongly consider having a break of between 10-14 days from the usage of any opiates.

It is the continual development of tolerance, and the significant increasing of the dosage and the frequency of usage which is the classic model of addiction.

It should be noted that if you become addicted to opiates you can suffer from the following consequences:

An overwhelming compulsion to use opiates, such as that may overtake your desire to do normal activities and may become more important than other aspects of your life.

A highly painful withdrawal syndrome,- while not life threatening in a healthy person- is extremely unpleasant and lasts several days.

People who become addicted to opiates may find themselves unable to stop, no matter how much they want to.

To avoid addiction to opiates the following guidelines of usage are strongly recommended:

Never use opiates for more than two days in close proximity without having a break of at 7-10 days before subsequent periods of opiate usage.

If you use opiates in two days of close proximity allow for at least a full 24 hours (preferably 48 hours) between these two usages.

Side effects of opiate usage

As with any medication, unwanted side effect may occur.

The most common problematic side effect is nausea. In some people the nausea is mild, in others severe. Some people never become nauseous on opiates while other people always do. Tolerance to the nausea effect occurs in some people so that it only occurs the first couple of times they use opiates. The higher the dosage of the opiate, the greater the risk of nausea.

Various medicines can be obtained over-the-counter at a pharmacy that help alleviate nausea. Please talk to your pharmacist for advice. If one medication does not work, another medication may work.

Some people find that not eating while on opiates helps with nausea. Other people find that lying down significantly reduces nausea. Some people find that smoking aggravates nausea.

Other opiate side effects (Note these effects are not dangerous): Tiredness, dizziness, lightheaded feeling, feeling heavy, sweating, feeling warm, itching, constipation, moderately slower pulse and breathing, moderate visual disturbances such as blurred vision or difficulty focusing, dilated pupils, moderate clumsiness,drowsiness.

Difficulty urinating sometimes occurs.

Other side effect may also occur. You should not drive or operate dangerous machinery under the presence of opiates until you are sure how they affect you.

Serious Side Effects:

Severe allergic reaction (rare): Significant swelling of the tongue or throat or face, breathing difficulties (wheezing), pronounced hives and rashes.

Breathing difficulties (very slow, shallow breathing or long pauses between breathing), very slow pulse. The person may be totally non-responsive. As a sign of oxygen depletion they may have blue fingers nails/lips (this is a sign they are near death). This event is the result of an excessive dose or overdose.

If either of the above serious side effects occur you should call an ambulance immediately and tell the person on the phone exactly what has happened.

Using Opiates

With all opiates you should be mindful of the fact that significant variation exists between individuals as to how effected a person will become to any given dose of opiates. It is impossible to predict in advance how sensitive to opiates a person will be if they have not used opiates before. You should ALWAYS assume that a person has low tolerance to opiates until other information is ascertained. It should also be noted that a persons tolerance to opiates may actually change over their lifetime due to aging and prior exposure to opiates.

Always start on a relatively low dosage. With recreational usage of opiates the first “wave” of effect is usually the most enjoyable. So if a given dosage is not satisfactory you may wish to wait until another occasion and try to a moderately higher dose. If the effect was mild, that is the person was not significantly sedated and the persons breathing and pulse rate were not reduced then you may wish to consider up to a 50% increase in the next dosage, but not more than this.

It may take a few goes to find a good dosage for the person. It is extremely important to be patient and to not suddenly escalate the dosage, as it is possible you may overdose the person if you raise the dose too high.

You may also elect to take a second dose after the primary dosage. Different opiates take different amounts of time to reach peak effect. It is very important you have researched and understand how long the opiate takes to reach peek effect before taking a secondary dosage. Otherwise you may risk overdose. It is recommended that the second dosage is not more than 50% of the first dosage. It is not recommended to dose more than 2 or 3 times due to the risk of tolerance and addiction in the longer term.

The following doses are indicated for oral consumption only, which is the safest and recommended route of consumption. Using the opiate via other means may require a significant recalculation of the doses below.

Oxycodone:

A recommended starting dosage for a person of average weight is 20mg. If this is not sufficient then on further occasions you may try starting with 40mg then 60mg then 80mg until you find a dosage which produces the desired effects.

If you take a second dosage you should wait around 60 minutes before doing so, because this is how long it takes oxycodone to reach peak levels in a persons bloodstream.

Oxycodone levels reduce by half in the blood every 3.2 hours or so. After 6 or so hours since the last dosage, the effect should have mostly worn off.

Methadone:

A starting dosage for methadone would be 10-15mg. It should be noted that methadone takes 4 hours until it reaches peak in your system. You should NOT take another dose until 4 hours has passed. It should also be noted that methadone can stay in your system a very long time, in some cases days. This varies greatly from person to person. This means if you take another dose of methadone 1-2 days later you could still have methadone from the last time in your system. You should be careful because it is easy to overdose on methadone due to repeated dosing.

It should be noted that there is some information available that suggests on rare occasions methadone may cause heart problems. If you are concerned about this, you should research the matter further.

Morphine:

A good starting dose would be 20-30mg. Morphine takes around 1 hour to reach peak concentrations in your blood, so only take a second dose after 1 hour. Morphine reduces by half in your blood every 4 or so hours.

Codeine:

A recommended dosage is about 120-160mg.

Heroin:

Heroin is usually only available in street form, which makes it dangerous due to its impurity and difficulty in measuring the dose. If you must use Heroin it is strongly recommended that you start with a very small dose and gradually increasing the dose until desired effects are achieved. If you can aquire medical grade heroin, a dosage of 15-20mg is recommended.

For a list of further opiate doses, please see Dosage Guidelines.

Monitoring the effects of opiates during usage:

Breathing rate, pulse and sedation are the main factors to monitor to determine how effected you are by any given dose of opiate. It is important to wait until opiates have absorbed fully into your body before you can be fully confident how much shall effect you. Please see the wiki's individual sections on opiates for further information regarding how long it takes an opiate to reach peak effects in your body.

Before consuming opiates you should rest for 10-20 minutes and measure your pulse and breathing rate, this gives you a basic for comparison once you have taken opiates.

Use the following technique to measure you pulse and breathing.

Sit down and relax. Carefully count the pulse in your neck (or wrist) over 10 seconds using a clock. Multiply this number by 6 to get your pulse per minute.

Try to breath normally. Measure the total of in-out breathing cycles over 20 seconds, multiply this number by 3 to obtain your breathing rate per minute.

While the rate of your breathing is somewhat more important than your pulse rate, you should not consume further opiates if your breathing and pulse drop by around 20-25%. This would indicate you have consumed a sufficient dosage and consuming further opiates may be dangerous.

You should also pay attention to how tired you are on the opiates. Moderate tiredness is acceptable, but if you can't keep your eyes open, or are drifting in and out of sleep, then you should not consume further opiates.

To increase your safety make a habit of monitoring your breathing rate, pulse and sedation level while using opiates. Other side effects are less useful in measuring how affected by opiates you are.