Title : Codeine FAQ 
Author : mdh@debug.cuc.ab.ca 
Newsgroup : alt.drugs 
Last Revision : June 28, 1994 
 
 
Introduction 
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
        Codeine is a member of the drug class opiates.  Opiates 
include all naturally occurring drugs with morphine-like effects 
such as codeine and all semi and fully synthetic drugs with  
morphine-like effects such as heroin and meperidine (Demerol). 
 
        Codeine was first discovered as a natural constituent of  
opium in very small concentrations, in the range of 0.7% - 2.5%  
by weight.  Most codeine found in pharmaceutical products today  
is synthetically produced via the methylation of morphine. 
 
        Codeine is available by prescription only in most areas  
of the US.  Exceptions are seen in some states where codeine can  
be purchased over-the-counter (OTC) in products containing a small  
dose of codeine.  Also in Canada, some codeine containing products  
are available OTC in most if not all provinces.  With the codeine  
available in the US OTC, release forms may have to be signed,  
including your name and address, in order to keep track of how  
much codeine you are buying. 
 
        The amount of codeine allowable by law in OTC products is 
8mg per unit dose of a drug. A example is 325mg of acetaminophen  
(a unit dose of acetaminophen) and 8mg codeine per tablet.  This  
law is used to prevent the excessive use of codeine as one would  
have to take doses reaching toxicity of acetaminophen before any  
real problems with the codeine administration would occur. It's  
the same situation with aspirin.  With OTC cough medications, the  
highest amount of codeine allowed is 3.3mg/ml.  This  
concentration is _so_ low that this FAQ will not be discussing  
cough syrups as a source of recreational codeine.  The tablet  
form of OTC codeine products usually also includes 15mg of  
caffeine in each standard dose. 
 
        Prescription codeine containing products are usually not 
available without another drug included such as acetaminophen.  
Rx (prescription) products include the Tylenol w/ codeine series 
(#1,2,3,4) containing respectively 8mg, 15mg, 30mg, 60mg of  
codeine.  Each tablet also contains caffeine in doses of 15mg,  
30mg, 30mg and 0mg respectively.  Thus Tylenol #4 w/ codeine  
(the most desired one) contains 325mg of acetaminophen, 60mg of  
codeine and no caffeine.  Another Rx product is the 222, 292,  
293, 294 series. They are identical to the Tylenol w/ codeine  
series, except aspirin replaces the acetaminophen.  The Rx  
products are good sources of codeine for recreational use except  
most of us don't have sources that can obtain these drugs,  
therefore this FAQ contains a procedure so that one can easily  
obtain large amount of codeine from OTC products. 
 
Effects and Uses 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
        Codeine is mainly used as a pain reliever, but is also  
used for the relief of a non-productive cough, and as a  
anti-diarrheal agent.  120mg of codeine administered SC  
(subcutaneously, injected under the skin) provides pain relief  
equal to 10mg of morphine administered by the same route. Doses  
used to relieve cough or diarrhea range from 5mg to 30mg. 
 
        Codeine is absorbed quickly from the GI tract and it's  
first pass through the liver results in very little loss of the  
drug.  This contrasts with morphine in which over 90% of the drug  
is metabolized in the first pass through the liver resulting in a  
considerable loss of potency when administered orally.  This is  
why codeine is a common opiate in the relief of pain, the ease of  
oral administration. 
 
        Codeine can be administered by many routes, this includes, 
SC, IM (intramuscularly), as an enema, and orally.  Note, codeine 
can't be administered safely by IV (intravenously) injection as 
it can result in pulmonary edema (fluid in lungs), facial swelling 
and other life threatening complications. 
 
       Codeine is converted to morphine in the brain.  This of  
course will result in a positive result in a drug test for the  
opiates.  It is not known whether or not the drugs heroin,  
morphine or codeine can be separately determined on a drug test.  
In other words it isn't likely that the drug tester can determine  
which of the three above drugs you have taken, he just knows  
you've taken one or more of them.   
 
        Note! Addiction to codeine can occur.  Tolerance is also  
seen with chronic use.  Although the withdrawal is minimal with  
codeine, it is not a fun time. Please be cautious in your use  
of the drug. 
 
        Some common side effects from codeine include drowsiness,  
light-headedness, dry mouth, urinary retention (difficulty in  
urination), constipation and of course, euphoria.  Adverse  
effects can include itchiness (common), confusion, nausea and  
vomiting.  The nausea experienced with codeine is less common  
and less intense than that experienced with the stronger opiates  
such as morphine.  A tip to all those using opiates, lying down  
does wonders to the nausea.  If you ever experience nausea on  
opiates it is different than the commonly experienced nausea as  
it is more of a light-headed nausea.  Lying down will almost  
always relieve the nausea in a couple minutes, which after you  
can attempt to stand up again.  
 
        Codeine is a _excellent_ opiate to start experimenting  
with.  Although the euphoria is not as intense as that  
experienced with the stronger opiates, the euphoria can still be  
quite intense.  It also must be noted that like most other drugs,  
some experience is required before the full effects can be  
noticed and enjoyed.  The best dose to start at is the  
30mg - 60mg dosage.  That way you won't experience many adverse 
effects and you can continue to take this small amount until you  
feel the desired effects, after that you can increase the dosage  
as you please.  Most people settle around the 250mg mark for the  
best euphoria, with the least side effects.  The best idea is to  
take in a situation where you won't become distracted.  You can  
get yourself into a comfortable position and relax because you  
will become _quite_ relaxed.  It may take 5 to 20 times before  
you can appreciate the effects.  The effects are subtle like  
marijuana and it takes some time before you come to recognize  
them all.   
 
        The LD50 (lethal dose for %50) is 800mg in the average  
person.  Death from codeine, unlike most opiates, includes  
restlessness, seizures and eventually death from respiratory 
arrest. 
 
 
Using Codeine 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
        Again a good dose to start using codeine at is in the  
30mg to 60mg range.  At this dosage range the adverse effects  
tend to be minimal, and the pleasurable effects quite noticeable.   
It is usually a good idea to take the drug on a empty stomach,  
and if nausea is experienced or you get hungry (not likely) you  
can have something to eat.  On an empty stomach the effects will  
become noticeable within 15 min depending on the dose.  With  
higher doses the effects can begin in as little as 7 min.  The  
effects peak at around 1 hr with the experience nearing it's end  
at around the 3 - 4 hr point.  Again with higher doses effects  
may last 4 - 6 hours. 
 
        The effects will usually begin with a slight sedation,  
and a feeling of warmth coming over you body.  Muscular relaxation  
is also quite noticeable.  The subjective effects are quite hard  
to describe beyond the word euphoria.  The sedation associated  
with codeine is quite a lot less than that experienced with  
morphine or other stronger opiates.  A strong feeling of  
contentment is usually also experienced.  Most people enter  
a phase where you become quite content and tend to lose interest  
in their surroundings.  A heavy feeling in the limbs also  
becomes quite noticeable.  This will peak at 1hr with the effects  
slowly tapering off after 2hr. 
 
 
Codeine Extraction Technique 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
        Due to the difficulty in obtaining Rx drugs containing  
enough codeine to be used recreationally, I have included a  
procedure that allows one to extract the codeine from OTC  
products to obtain enough of the drug to use recreationally. 
 
        This extraction can *only* be used on OTC products  
containing either acetaminophen or aspirin in addition to the  
codeine.  There is one exception to this rule.  Products  
containing caffeine can be used with the knowledge that the most  
of the caffeine contained in the OTC product, *will* be found  
in the finished product. This should not matter to most people,  
but to those with problems in taking caffeine, *you have been  
warned*! 
 
        The idea behind the following extraction is that  
acetaminophen and aspirin (I'll use A/A from now on) are very  
_insoluble_ in cold water.  Codeine phosphate (the most common  
salt of codeine) is very _soluble_ in water including cold water.   
The following table explains: 
 
               Solubility (31C water)            Solubility (21C water) 
 
Aspirin                 1g / 100 ml                   1g / 300ml 
 
Acetaminophen           1g / 70 ml                    1g / 150 ml  
 
Codeine                 1g / 2.3 ml                   1g / 0.7 ml 
Phosphate 
 
        So as you can see, both A/A aren't very soluble in 21C  
water, so if you cool the water to around 10C, the solubility will  
drop even further.  That way you can dissolve 20 tablets in 50ml  
of hot water, cool the water down to 10C, filter the solution and  
end up with the same amount of codeine as the tablets contained  
but only a fraction of the original amount of A/A.   
 
        It must be noted that because most of the caffeine will  
also be in the finished product, using large amount of tablets in  
the following procedure will result in large amount of caffeine  
in the finished product. For example the use of 20 tablets will  
result in about 300mg of caffeine in the finished product  
(15mg/tablets * 20 tablets).  I personally haven't experienced  
any adverse reactions due to this amount of caffeine.  Because  
of codeine's sedative effects the "jitters" and other adverse  
effects of large amount of caffeine are not experienced. 
 
 
The Procedure 
 
1.  Obtain a quantity of tablets containing codeine, check to  
see if they contain anything other than codeine, caffeine,  
acetaminophen or aspirin.  If they do, and you don't know whether  
or not it will be a problem, your best bet is not to use them.   
Measure out your desired amount of codeine (ex. 64 mg = 8 tablets  
* 8mg/tablet).  You may want to add 2 extra tablets as it is quite  
likely you will lose some codeine in the procedure.  As you get  
more experience with the procedure you will be able to get  
approx. 95% of the codeine extracted. 
 
2.  Measure out some nice hot water, use approx. 40ml / 20 tablets  
or more if needed.  I would suggest you don't go over 50ml for 20  
tablets.  I don't know if the use of boiling water would destroy  
any of the codeine but your best bet is not to use it.  Use hot  
water but not boiling.  Make sure the tablets dissolve completely.   
Some dissolve on contact with water while others need some help  
dissolving by crushing them.  Note : not all of the tablet will  
dissolve, there are water-insoluble fillers in the tablet and not  
all of the A/A will dissolve either(which is what we want). 
 
3.  Place the solution in a cold bath, I just use some ice cubes  
in a container of water.  Stir the mixture occasionally until the  
solution drops to about 15C or lower.  You won't need a  
thermometer to measure the temperature, just make sure it's  
"cold".  This will take about 30 min.  If you wish to speed this  
up, you can use less water to dissolve the tablets, and add ice  
chips to cool the mixture faster.  Just make sure you don't add  
so much ice that you drastically increase the volume of the mixture. 
 
4.  Filter the solution using whatever you have.  Coffee filters  
work well, but lab filters work the best.  Just make sure you  
don't end up with obvious solids in the filtered solution.  This  
will take about 1 hr.  You may also want to rinse the solids left  
over in the filter with some ice-water to extract any remaining  
codeine. 
 
5. Drink and enjoy!  The solution will be _very_ bitter, so I mix  
a little Kool-aid powder into the solution.  The taste isn't really  
bad but it's similar to sucking on a lemon. 
 
6. Sit back and wait for the effects.  Because the codeine is  
already in solution it only needs to be absorbed, while codeine  
in the tablet form must dissolve before being absorbed.  Because  
of this, the effects will probably become noticeable within 15min. 
 
Note : I don't suggest you evaporate the mixture unless you are  
willing to wait a while.  The Merck index warns that codeine is  
sensitive to heat and light.  For that reason if you wish to  
evaporate the mixture, do it without heat, and shield the solution  
from light. 
 
----- End of FAQ 
 
