Opioid poisoning

Opium, morphine, codeine, paregoric, and papaverine in this class are effective drugs for analgesia, cough suppression, antidiarrheal use, anesthesia, and spasmolysis, and are widely used in clinical practice. A single large accidental dose or frequent use of morphine can cause poisoning. The toxic dose of morphine in adults is 0.06 g, and the lethal dose is 0.25 g; the lethal dose of dried opium is 10 times that of morphine, with an oral lethal dose of 2–5 g. The toxicity of codeine is one-fourth that of morphine, with a toxic dose of 0.2 g and a lethal dose of 0.8 g. Barbiturates and other hypnotic drugs have a synergistic effect with this class of drugs and should be used with caution in combination.