How does opium affect the brain?
Opium and all opiate derivatives like morphine, heroin, Vicodan, Percocets, and Dilaudid affect opiate receptor sites in the brain by flooding those sites. Endorphins, which our own brain produces in response to exercise (runner’s high) or pleasure also interacts with those sites too, but the opiates are much more intense and longer lasting. The opiates are sedative-like and result in lethargy, “nodding,” sleep, overdoses, coma, and death.
