(Nothing personal, Since9. You used the word exactly like I've seen it used nearly a dozen times by journalists recently. In fact, this rant is against journalists, not you.)
WTH!?!!
I simply just do not understand this. The suffix --oid means resembling or like. So, an opioid would be a drug that resembles an opiate. But, the dang is NOT an opiate! It just resembles an opiate in function, effect, or whatever.
Soooooo. Where the heck do these supposedly college educated journalists, government officials, and police get off calling
heroin an opioid!?!?!?! Dammit!! Heroin is almost the original opium drug. It ain't an opioid. Its the real dam thing.
Aaarrrrrrggghhhhhh!
/rant
I feel better now.
You raised some good points. Let me respond...
"Heroin, also known as diamorphine among other names,[1] is an opiate most commonly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects.[2] Medically it is occasionally used to relieve pain and in opioid replacement therapy." (Source: "Heroin". Drugs.com. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2016.)
"Opiate is a term classically used in pharmacology to mean a drug derived from opium. Opioid, a more modern term, is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors (including antagonists)." (Source: Hemmings, Hugh C.; Egan, Talmage D. (2013). Pharmacology and Physiology for Anesthesia: Foundations and Clinical Application: Expert Consult - Online and Print. Elsevier Health Scienc,es. p. 253. ISBN 1437716792.)
Because opioids include "all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors," and because "opiates are drugs derived from opium," heroin is both an opioid as well as an opiate.
Put another way, the specific receptors are called "opioid receptors," and all three of the following classes of drugs will bind to them:
- opiates - Morphine, Codeine, Heroin, Opium, etc.
- opioids - all opiates, as well as Methadone, Percocet, Percodan, OxyContin (oxycodone), Vicodin, Lorcet, Lortab (hydrocodone), Demerol (pethidine), Dilaudid (hydromorphone), Duragesic (fentanyl), etc.
- antagonists - Naloxone, Naltrexone, etc.
ETA: Summary - Opioids are any substance which binds to the opioid receptors in our brains/central nervous system, and include opioids, opiates, and opioid antagonists, whereas opiates are the subclass of opioids derived from opium.