Opiate and Opioid Reference Materials

Opioid drugs come in three main forms: natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic. Natural opioids, like codeine and morphine, derive from seed pods of the poppy plant Papaver somniferum, while semi-synthetic opioids such as heroin, hydrocodone (Vicodin), and oxycodone (OxyContin), are more potent drugs synthesised from codeine or morphine. Synthetic opioids, including methadone, tramadol, and fentanyl, are totally artificial and often more powerful still.

Medicinal opioids are designed mainly for treating moderate to severe pain, and work by activating opioid receptors that essentially block pain messages sent from the body to the brain. They can also cause feelings of well-being or euphoria, reduced anxiety, and sedation - but may also lead to opioid dependence (with unpleasant withdrawal symptoms), or opioid tolerance (when users need more drugs to achieve the same effects). High doses of opioid drugs can also slow a person’s breathing and heart rate enough to cause their death – a risk that applies to prescription and street drugs alike.

Between 1999 and 2022, there were more than 1.1 million fatal drug overdoses in the United States, with almost 727,000 of them caused by prescription or illicit opioids. Declared a public health emergency in 2018, the American opioid crisis developed in four tragic “waves” of drug abuse – driven by prescription opioid pills, then heroin, synthetic opioids and (most recently) polydrug use - and has also spread to other developed countries around the world.

LGC Standards offers a wide range of opiate and opioid reference materials - including key metabolites, stable isotopes, and matrix materials - to support opioid testing for forensic investigations, clinical toxicology, crime investigations and legal proceedings. Our range also helps researchers to develop new analytical techniques to keep up with the large number of new drugs that are appearing in illicit markets, as well as better treatments and control measures for opioids and opiates.