Drugs, Legal And Illegal - 1508 Words

People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull† said Wendell Berry. The same could be said with a toxic organic compound named Morphine. Morphine is white, crystalline and odorless which contain 17 carbon, 19 hydrogen atoms, 1 nitrogen atom and 3 oxygen. (C17H19NO3) Under organic compounds, it’s classified in the â€Å"True Alkaloid† group as the nitrogen is organized in a heterocycle and originated from amino acid. Morphine are produced through an extraction from plants like â€Å"Papaver Somniferous† then processed or produced synthetically for medication and recreational purposes. Firstly, morphine is an analgesic opioid that exists in tablets or solution form and could be consumed through swallowing,†¦show more content†¦The binding could only occur in the receptors active site if the size, shape and charge of the morphine’s meet the requirement of the receptor. Once the match is identified, the following binding process would take place. The flat benzene ring in morphine would fit securely in the flat surface of the receptor’s active site to allow the rest of the molecule to fall in place easily. The adjacent carbon atoms would fit into a nearby groove, while the nitrogen atom would attach to the negatively charged group receptor, hence joining the two together. After the binding occurred, the morphine would be able to block the sending of the painful information from the pre-synaptic neuron on the nociceptor. This is because, it caused a reactionary changed in the cell which blocks its ability to produces the substance that causes the feeling of pain during and/or after an operation and injury. On the other hand, despite the medical benefits mentioned above, morphine is an addictive drug which a number of individuals in the current society misuse or abuse it for recreational purpose. These addiction and dependency could be caused by genetics, environment but most importantly, the change in brain and chemical structure. Like other opioids, morphine addiction could be inherited from previous generations and therefore, the ones who had relatives that is a current or past morphine