The night started out with the acquisition of several Panadeine Forte prescription pills, each containing 30mg of codeine and 500mg of paracetamol (acetaminophen); having taken four I went downstairs, downed all four with a glass of water and went into my bedroom with the lights off to wait for the effects.
Codeine
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: Act, Dmo, Dex, Lean, Purp
Summary
Codeine (also known as 3-Methylmorphine) is a naturally-occurring opioid substance of the morphinan class found in extracts of the poppy, particularly Papaver bracteatum. Members of this group produce effects such as sedation, cough suppression, and euphoria when administered. Codeine is the second most predominant alkaloid in opium (up to three percent).
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 50-100mg | 100-150mg | 150-200mg | 200mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources
Oral
Dose ladder — PsychonautWikiOnset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 20-45 min | 30-60 min | 1-2 hrs | 2-4 hrs | 3-6 hrs |
Opioid MME Calculator
⚠ Citation & Disclaimer:
Conversion factors sourced from the
NIH HEAL Initiative MME Calculator (Adams et al., PAIN 2025),
the CDC 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain,
and the MDCalc MME Calculator.
These are approximate equianalgesic ratios for educational reference only.
Individual responses vary significantly based on genetics, tolerance, cross-tolerance, and route of administration.
This is not medical advice. Do not use these conversions to adjust opioid dosing without professional medical guidance.
mg
66.7
mg
Codeine
≈
—
mg
Morphine
| Substance | Equivalent Dose | MME Factor |
|---|
⚠ Equianalgesic dose ratios are approximations and do not account for genetic factors, tolerance, incomplete cross-tolerance, or pharmacokinetic variations. Methadone conversion is especially variable at higher doses. Always consult a healthcare provider before making any changes to opioid therapy.
Effect Profile
164 reportsScores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:
- Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
- Validated against 102 Erowid trip reports
- Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)
Opioid
8.3
Intense
8/10
Strong euphoria, pain relief, and sedation with strong itching/nausea
Euphoria / Warmth
×3
10
physical euphoria
cognitive euphoria
euphoria
mood lift
Analgesia
×2
10
pain relief
analgesia
Sedation / Relaxation
×1
8
sedation
physical relaxation
Itching / Nausea
×1
10
nausea
constipation
dry mouth
Based on reports from:
Tolerance
Build-up
develops within days of regular use; analgesic tolerance faster than respiratory depression tolerance
Reset
Falls quickly once you stop, at a rate you can't judge. After any break, treat your tolerance as gone.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for opioids were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
Opioid tolerance drops fast when you stop, and even a few days off can be enough, so a dose that used to be normal can now stop your breathing. Overdose deaths rise sharply after prison, detox or leaving treatment, and tolerance also falls during a hospital stay. After any break, start with a much smaller amount, try a test dose first, don't use alone, and keep naloxone within reach. Alcohol, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids and other sedatives make an opioid overdose much more likely.
Sources: FRANK: heroin · National Harm Reduction Coalition · WHO: opioid overdose · Merrall et al. 2010 · Binswanger et al. 2007 · Strang et al. 2003 · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing
Cross-Tolerances
other μ-opioid agonists
Effects
Aggregated from 102 single-substance Erowid and 62 Bluelight experience reports (the Bluelight figures come from the 50 of them read for effects); 96 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 48
58.0% (95% interval 44 to 71 percent)
85%
41.5% (95% interval 34 to 49 percent)
87%
36.9% (95% interval 30 to 45 percent)
88%
26.0% (95% interval 16 to 40 percent)
85%
26.0% (95% interval 16 to 40 percent)
91%
24.0% (95% interval 14 to 37 percent)
85%
22.0% (95% interval 13 to 35 percent)
76%
22.0% (95% interval 13 to 35 percent)
78%
21.1% (95% interval 15 to 28 percent)
86%
21.0% (95% interval 15 to 28 percent)
88%
20.0% (95% interval 11 to 33 percent)
80%
20.0% (95% interval 11 to 33 percent)
84%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
83%
15.8% (95% interval 11 to 22 percent)
78%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
79%
13.8% (95% interval 9 to 20 percent)
70%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
88%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
89%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
88%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
83%
Show 28 more positive effects
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
84%
8.5% (95% interval 5 to 14 percent)
83%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
84%
7.2% (95% interval 4 to 12 percent)
72%
4.6% (95% interval 2 to 9 percent)
79%
4.6% (95% interval 2 to 9 percent)
70%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
78%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
78%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
75%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
92%
3.9% (95% interval 2 to 8 percent)
68%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
95%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
70%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
70%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
65%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
95%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
95%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
Adverse Effects 40
42.0% (95% interval 29 to 56 percent)
89%
29.6% (95% interval 23 to 37 percent)
85%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
81%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
81%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
89%
12.7% (95% interval 8 to 21 percent)
–
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
88%
11.9% (95% interval 8 to 18 percent)
78%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
74%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
86%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
82%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
87%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
83%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
85%
5.3% (95% interval 3 to 10 percent)
83%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
88%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
88%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
78%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
Show 20 more adverse effects
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
78%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
78%
3.9% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
3.9% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
2.9% (95% interval 1 to 8 percent)
–
2.9% (95% interval 1 to 8 percent)
–
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
Breathing Change
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
Also reported in combinations. In the 96 Codeine reports where another drug was taken too, 8 (8.3%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 0 (0.0%) a seizure and 1 (1.0%) psychosis. In the 102 single-substance reports: 11.8%, 0.0% and 0.0%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Codeine alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Codeine with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 1 positive 3 neutral 4 cautionary visit
Ah, codeine! What a beautiful drug it is. I realise that there are many people who look down on those who use codeine as a recreational drug because it is such a 'soft-core drug', but I'm here to say that it certainly does have potential to make for a very, very relaxing and euphoric high.
Let me say that my drug/s of choice have always been opioids. (At least since I discovered them) and my favorite amongst them has been codeine. (I live in India, the only other real choice is heroin, since they dont sell the oxycodones and hydrocodones here, though there are some milder choices like tramadol) But I lo...
Ive been using codeine recreationally for upwards of 13 years now on and off. My initial exposure to it was through my mother who happens to be a nurse, I was about 14 and had a pounding migraine nothing was touching and my mom, being the caring person she is, gave me a Tylenol 2 to help.
My younger brother got prescribed a bottle of Codeine Phosphate solution after he got his tonsils taken out, but my mother didn't give him any because she assumed he was too young to take it, being 6 at the time.
My story with opiates begins when I was 12. I had a hernia surgery, asked for a painkiller afterwards, and got morphine (IV)... I remember getting scared when I saw the label on the syringe...
A Feeling of Calm Background: I'm a fairly light 'drugs user' and drinker. I'm a 17 year old male and smoke roughly 10 cigarettes a week. Past experimentation has been with psilocybin (magic mushrooms), caffeine (over dose), marijuana and Hawaiian baby wood rose seeds.
This is the story of my experiences with my favorite drug, codeine, and in particular, my only serious overdose. I first experimented with darvocet after I got a prescription due to problems with my sciatic nerve and extreme lower back pain.
Bluelight 7 threads 1 positive 5 neutral 1 cautionary visit
Well let me start by saying that this shit is fucking awesome. I got prescribed tylenol 3 for my wisdom tooth extraction and after seeing that it was a prescription for codeine I was thrilled. I am not a user of opiates so I had no idea what it would be like.
Yesterday, I had a very long dream about using codeine recreationally, as I have been very interested in opiates recently, and I'd like to see what everyone thinks about this.
A few months ago, a good friend from France sent me a message on Facebook and told me that he is gonna spend a day in the city where Im living. I was very glad to hear that because I havent seen him for quite a while.
Codeine ~ Semi-Exp ~ Everything In Its Right Place [kat's first trip report] Date of experience: 23/07/04 Substances consumed: Codeine - Pandeine Forte tablets x6 - total 180mg Also coming to the party - Nitrous Alcohol Phenergan (antihistamine) x2 I have used codeine on probably 6 - 8 occasions in the past, up to a do...
Just sweet sweet Codeine (153.6mg ingested incrementally) I have tried all sorts of drugs and my only experience with opiates/codeine was having two Panadiene Forte tablets (60mg codeine) on one occasion when I had razors down my throat (not really, just a fucking sore throat).
Amount taken 3000mgs of codeine or 91 32 mg tablets pure codeine all broken in half and swallowed in one gulp Effects start happening around an hour i thought it was 20 minutes but now its later i realise it was more like an hour then i laid down felt quite good i put some music on and stupidly started dancing as i do...
Codeine - It truly takes 5 exp/times to enjoy My 5 th time tonite. What started off looking like my 4th time a bad trip, came out to be a fine sensation. The onset of a black out / paranoia about a loss of consciiousness as stated in the overdose section of the med booklet was taken under control by aproching the feeli...
Pill Identifiers
10
known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images
→
Codeine's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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Helpful Links
Import into PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app includes Codeine, but its built-in data can be thinner than ours. Importing this file adds a separate "Codeine (Substance Search)" custom substance with our dose ranges and durations, so you can log against whichever you prefer. It leaves tolerance out on purpose, for the reason given under Tolerance above.
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Codeine (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer.
Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Codeine? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.