Long-term stability of Morphine

[MetallicCognition]

I have 900mg of morphine in a safe place. I "acquired" it when an elderly relative passed, who had been on a high prescribed dose due to chronic pain. I was told to dispose of the morphine at a pharmacy, but I only gave them half. This was now four years ago and I still have the morphine.

My question is: does it go bad? Will it still work after 4 years? I have 100ml=200mg of liquid in a factory-sealed bottle ("oramorph"), and the rest (700mg) in pills ("zomorph"). They have been kept in a room temperature, dark place wrapped in cloth and a bag in addition to the original pill packaging. The bottle does say "exp XX 2022" and the pills are labelled "2019" - I think this is the manufacture date, as it doesn't say "expires" or anything, just a year printed on the pill packets. And they were in use by my relative in 2021.

I could test some but tbh I kind of want to take as much as possible in one go one day. I think 900mg is probably enough, but I don't want to reduce the dose by wasting some in a test. I plan to administer it rectally since the absorption is limited orally, and also I'll just throw it up if I eat it all in one go.

 

[spero_meliora]

it obviously highly depends on how it was stored but it sounds like you've tried to keep it in a stable, cool temperature and away from light. as you might have guessed, the pills will be more stable.

morphine pills will usually have a shelf life of about 2-5 years when stored properly with gradual degradation. for the liquid, it's often 1-2 years even when sealed, and is more sensitive.

you may also want to refer to the opioid mega thread here:

Opioid Megathread & Overview

Preamble I wanted to write something similar to Stan's guide to SN but I hesitate to call this a guide because I can't in good conscience make a guide for something so unreliable in terms of access, lethality, and risk of permanent injury. I.e., traumatic brain injury from hypoxia. SN is a far...

sanctioned-suicide.net

regardless, what really matters is if these pills are morphine-only? usually morphine pills don't have anything else mixed in, but it's important to check. but you certainly have a significant amount, especially if you have no opiate tolerance.

hope this helps, and I wish you the best in whatever you decide.

 

[MetallicCognition]

Thanks for the link - I hadn't seen that thread but it looks like a good resource.

Sounds like the liquid might be almost or completely useless then :( But at least the pills might have some life left in them. But yes, they've been in a dark place at room temperature. Mostly 17-22 degrees I suppose.

I don't know if the pills are pure morphine. I don't have the outer box, only the pills in the plastic pill sheet thing, and it just has the brand name from the OP (zomorph) and the date and no other info really.

I think if I combine the pills with CO method then I'll have a good chance of success by one method or the other. tbh I might add the liquid to the pills anyway - it might still help the dose a little, even if less so that usual.