Benzylmorphine

Benzylmorphine (Peronine®) is a semi-synthetic opiate narcotic introduced to the international market in 1897 and that of the United States very shortly thereafter. It is much like codeine, containing a benzoyl group attached to the morphine molecule just as the methyl group creates codeine and the ethyl group creates ethylmorphine or dionine (used as a generic name for that drug just as peronine is for benzylmorphine). It is about 90 per cent as strong as codeine by weight.

Benzylmorphine is used in much the same way as codeine and dihydrocodeine, primarily as a moderate strength analgesic and cough suppressant. It was available in the United States prior to 1914 and was still used until the 1960s, but fell into disuse once alternative opiate derivatives became preferred by doctors (i.e. hydrocodone as an analgesic and pholcodeine as a cough suppressant) Benzylmorphine is now a Schedule I Controlled Substance in the USA and is regulated internationally under UN drug conventions.