Table 2: Pharmacological characteristics of commonly abused opioid drugs.

Characteristics of opioid drugs related to abuse liability are given for commonly abused or high-abuse-potential opioids. Among factors thought to influence drug likeability are relative potency (as characterized by opioid receptor kinetics), time to onset of drug effect, and duration of drug effect. Equivalent dosages of drug by route of administration is also provided for consideration (based upon 10 mg intravenous morphine as comparator), although there is considerable yet minor disagreement between available equivalency tables, and inter-individual variabilities in subjective experiences cannot be easily accounted for. Data sources for comparative data are indicated by superscript corresponding to references listed below. The designation of NA indicates that the respective data was not found or was unavailable.

Drug	Receptor Affinity (Ki / nM)[94, 135, 136]			Route of Administration	Equivalent Dose[137]#	Onset[137–141]	Duration[137–141]	Half life[141, 142]
	MOR	DOR	KOR
heroin	see morphine	see morphine	see morphine	insufflation	20–35 mg	10–15 min	3–6 hr	>2–3.5 hr
				smoked	15–25 mg	5–10 min	3–5 hr
				intravenous	5–10 mg	0–5 min	4–5 hr
hydrocodone	11.1	962	501	oral	25 mg	10–20 min	4–8 hr	3.3–4.4 hr
				Intravenous	NA	< 5 min	~ 2 hr
morphine	2.48 ; 14.0	290 ; >1000	46.8 ; 538	oral	25 mg	<30 min	~4 hr	2–3.5 hr
				insufflation	15–20 mg	10–30 min	4–5 hr
				IV / IM	10 m	<1 min	2–4 hr
oxymorphone	0.78	50	137	oral	15 mg	15–30 min	3–4 hr	7–9 hr
				intravenous	1 mg	NA	NA
oxycodone	8.69	901	>1000	oral	12 mg	10–15 min	3–6 hr	2–3 hr
				intravenous	8.4 mg[143]	< 5 min	~ 6 hr
hydromorphone	0.47	18.5	24.9	Oral	5 mg	15–30 min	4–5 hr	2–3 hr
				intravenous	2 mg	<5 min	2–3 hr
fentanyl	0.39	>1000	255	intranasal	25–50 μg	5–15 min	1–4 hr	3–4 hr
				intravenous	0.1 mg	2 min	~ 1 hr

^#ClinCalc (online resource) accessed Oct. 2019 at https://clincalc.com/Opioids/