Critical Chemistry: Opioid Crisis Intervention

The opioid epidemic is the “deadliest drug crisis in American history” (NY Times). Overdoses claim more than 90 American lives each day, and about two million people battle substance abuse disorders stemming from prescription opioids (NIH). This lesson explores the case study of Jack, a college athlete who became addicted to prescription pain medicine. You will examine the chemistry behind the addiction, devise ways to curb it, and save him from overdosing. In part three of the module, Jack has shifted from using prescription pain medicine to heroin. You will learn why this is a common occurrence, and uncover why heroin is more potent than both oxycodone or morphine.

See example screens below. Click to enlarge them.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE: Project-based, active learning, case study

AUDIENCE: College students.

EMPLOYER: Smart Sparrow

ROLE: Instructional/learning experience design, front-end development, interaction design, LMS builder, content writer, researcher.

I envisioned, designed, and directed this novel approach to learning about intermolecular forces. I worked with an SME, researched the opioid crisis, designed and built the experience in Smart Sparrow’s proprietary adaptive e-learning platform. I have also tested, debugged, and have repeatedly improved the experience based on student and instructor feedback.

Critical Chemistry Opioid Crisis Intervention Lessons

This unity has three lessons that teach basic Chemistry through an interactive case study.

Landing Page for Molecular Geometry Lesson

Intermolecular Forces Lesson

Jack's sister becomes very concerned about his opioid use at this point in the case study.

From Prescription Meds to Heroin

From a series of statistics and graphs, students will assess the risk of heroin use for someone addicted to prescription pain medication.

Relative Potency of Heroin

From an equivalent dosing chart, students compare the potencies of heroin, morphine, and oxycodone to determine which one is the most potent/strongest.

The Blood-Brain Barrier

Unlike morphine and oxycodone, heroin causes an instant high for people who use it. This is because heroin can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Your job is to find out why.

Intermolecular Force: Hydrogen Bonding

Intermolecular forces give heroin its potency and allow its passage across the BBB. Let’s dig deeper into the force responsible for this—H-bonding.

H-Bonding in Opioids

You’ve learned about H-bonding in water and other
small molecules, now let’s apply what you’ve learned to opioids. Which opioid would be more water soluble?

Fat Solubility of Opioids

Apply what you’ve learned about H-bonding and solubility in water to opioids. The least water soluble opioid will be the most oil soluble. Heroin is the most water soluble opioid of the three.

Heroin's Potency Is Due to its Fat Solubility

Heroin is able to cross the BBB because it’s quite fat soluble. That accounts for the instant high it gives and tremendous potency as compared to morphine and oxycodone.

Extension to Current Research

Knowledge of intermolecular forces and the structure of opioids is informing research to find strong and effective painkillers without the negative side-effects.

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