Slang or Street Names: Speed Smack, H, ska, junk, rain, snow, kabayo, karachi and many others

Short-term effects include a surge of euphoria followed by alternately wakeful and drowsy states and cloudy mental functioning. Associated with fatal overdose, particularly in users who inject the drug-infectious diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS are in additional danger. Long-term users may develop collapsed veins, liver disease, and lung complications.

Slang or Street Names: Auntie, dream gum, dream stick, mira, gondola, pen yan, tar and more

Opium consists of the dried milky juice from the seed capsules of the opium poppy obtained from incisions made in the unripe capsules of the plant that has a brownish yellow color, a faint smell, and a bitter and acrid taste.

Opium and its various constituents exert effects upon the body ranging from analgesia, or insensitivity to pain, to narcosis, or depressed physiological activity leading to stupor. Opium users describe experiencing a feeling of calm and well-being. However, their preoccupation with the drug and its acquisition can lead to malnutrition and general poor self-care and an increased risk of disease.

Slang or Street Names: Dreamer, goma, miss emma, morphina, mary

Morphine the principal active agent in opium, is a powerful opioid analgesic drug. Like other opiates, morphine acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to relieve pain, and at synapses of the arcuate nucleus, in particular.

Morphine’s effects include impairment of mental performance, euphoria, drowsiness, lethargy, and blurred vision. It also decreases hunger, inhibits the cough reflex, and produces constipation. Morphine is usually highly addictive, and tolerance and physical and psychological dependence develop quickly. Patients on morphine often report insomnia and nightmares.

Slang or Street Names: Amidone, fizzies, glass, dollies

Methadone is a synthetic opioid analgesic synthesized in 1937 by German scientists Max Bockmühl and Gustav Ehrhart at IG Farben (Hoechst-Am-Main) who were searching for an analgesic that would be easier to use during surgery.

Although chemically unlike morphine or heroin, methadone produces many of the same effects. Introduced into the United States in 1947 as an analgesic (Dolophinel), it is primarily used today for the treatment of narcotic addiction.

Methadone has a slow metabolism and very high lipid solubility making it longer lasting than morphine-based drugs. Methadone has a typical half life of 24 hours or more, permitting the administration only once a day in heroin detoxification and maintenance programs. The most common mode of delivery at a Methadone clinic is in an oral solution.

Although not too common, Methadone is encountered on the illicit market and has been associated with a number of overdose deaths. "Street Meth" demand comes primarily from opioid addicts unable to get into a legal methadone program; addicts seeking a high strongly prefer shorter-acting opioids. Studies have shown that the vast majority of methadone diverted to the illicit market comes from pain management prescriptions or theft from factories/shippers, not from maintenance patients.