Narrative: Oxycodone pills

Oxycodone is created from thebaine, one of twenty alkaloid A nitrogen-containing substance found in plant compounds in the opium poppy plant. Of the various alkaloids in opium, the most important are morphine, codeine, and thebaine. At comparable doses, oxycodone is not as strong as morphine but is stronger than codeine. When mixed with over-the-counter analgesics such as aspirin or acetaminophen, oxycodone provides a boost of pain relief beyond the power of the over-the-counter drugs. These products come in pill or liquid form. OxyContin, which also comes in pill form, is simply oxycodone hydrochloride with no other active ingredients. The oxycodone is embedded in a slow-dissolving, inactive compound that releases the medicine into the bloodstream at regular intervals. Because the drug releases slowly, each pill has a high dose of the drug, much more than the patient needs hour by hour.

These pills are left over from an intestinal operation in 2008. These pills have moved with me from Queens to Manhattan to Brooklyn.