Opiates are analgesic drugs that also have euphorigenic properties that may lead to chronic drug-taking behavior and dependence. Clinical opiate use has escalated over the past 15 years with approximately 9.4 billion dosage units of opiates prescribed annually in the United States. In terms of illici...
5Unit for Research and Education in Alcohol and Drugs, Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia Background: A number of research studies on the genetics of opiate dependence have focused on the µ-opioid receptor (OPRM1), which is a prim...