Talk:Cold water extraction

Improper use of slang

I know this may sound a tad petty, but some of the terminology used in the description of the possible side-effects of intravenous codeine use don't seem befitting of an encyclopedic document.

Cheers, --Der Leiter 06:54, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

ibuprofen is hardly soluable at all

yes, and codeine (and most opiates) are much more soluble. That's the point of the extraction84.92.137.39 20:19, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually... codeine is a great deal less soluble than ibuprofen, as can be inferred from the placement (or lack of placement) of hydrogen bonds in these two substances.

From DrugBank:

Codeine = <0.1 g/100 mL = <0.001 mg/mL

Ibuprofen = ~0.049 mg/ml

Hydrocodone = Insoluble (no hydrogen bonds)

Hopefully you haven't been consuming large amounts of the ibuprofen fraction... that would be bad. Kitchen chemistry is not the same as Clandestine chemistry, and this article clearly relates to the latter. Chemists would call this fractional crystallization, although I suppose that a "cold water extraction" is a type of recrystallization in which temperature is variable (as opposed to pressure, etc.). Also note that paracetamol is very soluble in water, and this method of extraction is indeed frequently used by recreational drug users as a way to lessen the amount of potentially toxic paracetamol. It is also worth mentioning that the government (in the US, at least) has been VERY influential in the placement of paracetamol in opiate-containing products. They say it is to reduce drug abuse, but in fact it only seems to cause more harm due to its hepatotoxicity (n.b. paracetamol has an extremely narrow theraputic index). All of this information IS DEFINITELY WORTH MENTIONING in this article, if for no other reason than to prevent more drug-related deaths. Fuzzform 03:43, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I think you made a mistake:

0.1 g/100 mL = 0.001 g/mL = 1 mg/mL.

So codeine is more soluble than ibuprofen. --Galaxiaad 02:26, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

I disagree with Fuzzform that the combination of paracetamol-codeine causes more harm than good due to hepatotoxicity. You are absolutely right in saying that paracetamol has a narrow therapeutic index. That's why people are not stupid enough to take more than 4g of it in 24 hours. This effectively constrains the amount of codeine they can ingest too. I have to admit, though, that codeine is a fairly weak opiate with rather low dependence-potential, so perhaps less restrictions should be put on its usage, and it should be made available in pure form in pharmacies.Tmrussell 09:54, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Should we Censor this Article ?

[YES]AFAIK, 'cold water extraction' isn't recognized by chemists, but is more of a "kitchen chemistry" way to purify codiene tablets employed by drug users. I don't know that this is deserving of an article. If I'm wrong, it definatelt needs expansion. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.160.28.71 (talk • contribs) 08:54, 24 May 2006 (UTC).

[NO]That doesn't make much difference, it is still commonly used and known so no reason why it shouldn't have an article. Mushin^talk 08:54, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

[YES]Still, should instructions on how to extract an opioid from common cough medicines be described in a public encyclopaedia? It's not exactly common knowledge and also not really important for the article as a whole, but it might give an impression of Wikipedia as drug abuse-friendly. --TheOtherStephan 03:03, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[NO]Cold water extraction is recognized by Chemists, as it has been presented in procedures to me in my college level organic chemistry class

[NO]If this isn't the the place to detail what hot cold water extraction (or any other drug/weapon/ANYTHING) process, then I don't know what would be the appropriate place. Wikipedia is about education, what you do with it is up to you, not Wikipedia. If we were to go running around deleting things on Wikipedia because they are "drug abuse-friendly", how is that any different from censorship? An open forum encyclopedia is not about censorship. Educate yourself, you owe it to yourself to not allow yourself to be ignorant of things out there.

[NO]Cold water extraction is a standard technique in quantitative chemistry. The differential solubilities of different substances at different temperatures is commonly used by chemists to separate those substances. Furthermore, it is part of the educational curriculum. The Royal Society of Chemistry for example provides an educational document (intended for high school students) at http://www.chemsoc.org/pdf/LearnNet/rsc/paracetamol.pdf which describes in great detail, procedures to isolate paracetamol from other substances. I quote from page 4: "When the hot solution is cooled down, it reaches the temperature at which paracetamol reaches its limit of solubility and therefore starts to crystallise out." If it's good enough for the RSC, it's good enough for wikipedia, I say. As for the issue of censorship generally, the illegality of the matter described is totally irrelevant. Lots of illegal activities are described in wikipedia and it helps law-abiding persons such as you and me to be aware of that activity. As for whether it could be harmful to describe the procedures, well I am NOT opposed to censorship in principle. Censorship is sometimes the most ethical course of action even though it can weaken democracy. But let's get our priorities right. You could at a pinch argue that removing bomb-making instructions from wikipedia might be worthwhile even though it's elsewhere on the net anyway, but stopping Australians from purifying a drug that is available in pure form in pharmacies in other 1st world countries is not exactly law-enforcement's highest priority and that's why the police don't bother to prosecute for possession of this drug, despite it being illegal. I recommend that there be no censorship on Wikipedia for any matters concerning drugs, legal or illegal. Tmrussell 09:54, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

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[NO]I have to agree strongly that this issue is about Wikipedia being an unbiased informational resource to the public. The very suggestion that something be removed on the grounds that it makes Wikipedia look "drug abuse-friendly" is in explicit violation of content neutrality. Being a consumer that actually wants to know what western medicine is trying to do to my body, I was researching the vicodin that was prescribed for post-knee surgery pain. I actually read the edited version, and was hoping for more, as I know my body does not do well with acetominiphen, so I would prefer to use ibuprofin. I found the cached version on answers.com and was dismayed to see the info had been censored with the spurious commnent "Technical description not an encyclopedic topic". Please note the following definitions of "encyclopedic":

broad in scope or content; "encyclopedic knowledge" http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

An encyclopedia (alternatively encyclopaedia/encyclopædia) is a written compendium of knowledge. The term comes from the Greek εγκύκλιος παιδεία (enkuklios paideia), literally "in a circle of instruction", and more generally connoting "a well-rounded education". Many encyclopedias are titled Cyclopaedia and the terms are interchangeable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedic

[NO] Wikipedia being internet based has the flexibility to have a lot of information you wouldn't put in a paper encyclopedia due to size constraints. Like articles on popular TV shows for example. This article isn't going to encourage anyone that wasn't already interested in the subject matter to try it. If anything keeping this article might make people safer through knowledge. BWF89 12:26, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

worked well

Thanks for the info, works great with nurofen plus —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.177.151.101 (talk) 06:15, 31 January 2007 (UTC).

Contradiction

"...used to extract hydrocodone (which is insoluble in water)..." hydrocodone is an opiate salt... and so... "These extractions are possible because opiate salts dissolve in water far more readily than acetaminophen and ibuprofen." I was wondering the solubility of ibuprofen, it's not in that article.--x1987x^(talk) 03:09, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

OK, the data for hydrocodone was about the base. The salt hydrocodone bitartrate is also soluble, like codeine and oxycodone. I think I've fixed it. And I'm told I was wrong about the procedure not being illegal, but I don't think we generally use disclaimers on Wikipedia anyway. --Galaxiaad 04:26, 2 April 2007 (UTC)