From drugs.com:

Interactions between your drugs
Major
morphine ↔ zolpidem
Applies to:morphine and Ambien (zolpidem)

Using narcotic pain or cough medications together with other medications that also cause central nervous system depression can lead to serious side effects including respiratory distress, coma, and even death. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. Your doctor may be able to prescribe alternatives that do not interact, or you may need a dose adjustment or more frequent monitoring to safely use both medications. Do not drink alcohol or self-medicate with these medications without your doctor's approval, and do not exceed the doses or frequency and duration of use prescribed by your doctor. Also, you should avoid driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how these medications affect you.

A sad story gets even sadder.

The only thing more dangerous than an inexperienced pilot flying his plane like a goddamned blue angel is doing it while high and benzo-ed.

Wow - it’s hard to even comprehend.

I've read remarks that indicate that he was suffering from some level of pain, as would be reasonable to expect in any professional athlete who worked as hard as Roy did for as long as he did. So it's entirely possible that once we dig beneath the sensational headlines that he was prescribed morphine as a palliative. Taking it along with the other stuff was not smart, but who knows what he took when?

I've read remarks that indicate that he was suffering from some level of pain, as would be reasonable to expect in any professional athlete who worked as hard as Roy did for as long as he did. So it's entirely possible that once we dig beneath the sensational headlines that he was prescribed morphine as a palliative.

Morphine is not the problem. Flying a plane when you're on morphine is the problem.

IANAD, so is there no "safe" dosage of morphine that allows one to operate vehicles safely?

IANAD either but I'd guess for morphine, no, there isn't.

Of course, it could have been codeine which is metabolized to morphine.

On the gripping hand, you shouldn't be flying with codeine, either.

IANAD, so is there no "safe" dosage of morphine that allows one to operate vehicles safely?

Not that would be useful for pain. I've been given morphine, and you feel great. But, it's pretty obvious you shouldn't be doing anything that involves skill.

If it was Tylenol-3 with codeine, you still shouldn't, but you could probably get away with driving a car if you were careful.

But doing stunts in a plane? Insanity.

It’s indefensible. Flying a plane is inherently dangerous as ####. It’s like the first thing you learn when you take lessons.

It’s indefensible. Flying a plane is inherently dangerous as ####. It’s like the first thing you learn when you take lessons.

Seems like taking flying lessons shouldn't really be necessary to "learn" that principle.

They teach you that stuff in ground school. If you persist in being suicidal, they send you to get some flight hours in.

They teach you that stuff in ground school.

Or, you know, it should be blatantly self-evident to anyone who has any idea what an airplane is.

Or, you know, it should be blatantly self-evident to anyone who has any idea what an airplane is.

A lot of stupid people probably think about it like it's a boat. Ignoring the difference between 10-15 knots and 150. That 3rd dimension is a #####, too.

Hey, I took ground school, years ago. Then I realized how crowded the skies were and chose not to pursue flight training; plus, flying a private plane is rather spendy as Harveys would say. It's the drug part that I was asking about.

That 3rd dimension is a #####, too.

Yep, that's the one that gets ya.

I've considered flying. I took ground school, always wanted to. I looked into and a huge number of the amateur pilots that die are a) over 40, b) came to flying late, c) don't get many hours in and d) have associated health probems. I ticked all three and decided to put more money into other hobbies. It's a shame, I've flown a bit and think I'd have been a decent pilot had I started young. Alas.

Not that would be useful for pain. I've been given morphine, and you feel great. But, it's pretty obvious you shouldn't be doing anything that involves skill.

My mother takes morphine daily for back pain because over the past 20 years she developed a tolerance to everything else, both before and after surgery. She says she doesn't have any side effects from morphine (I, on the other hand, freaked out), and she functions just fine. Again, though, it took a long time for her to get to that point.

Sounds like he was a high flyer.

It's not just the morphine. Ambien is designed to put you to sleep, also not recommended when flying ... or driving ... or even walking for that matter. Then as #1 points out for us, the mix of morphine and ambien can really knock you out, possibly in a never wake up way. Then, to try to stay alert, you take some speed.

So (depending on how much was still flowing around the blood stream I suppose) 1/2 of him was high, the other 1/2 was trying to go to sleep and his heart was racing trying to keep him awake. Super.

She says she doesn't have any side effects from morphine (I, on the other hand, freaked out),

The only side-effect I ever got was the stereotypical itchy face. It's by far the best drug for post-surgical pain, but the bastards never want to give it out anymore. I tell them, I've had 8 surgeries and been on narcotics 8 times, for up to two month. If I was going to get addicted, it would have happened already.

I tell them, I've had 8 surgeries and been on narcotics 8 times, for up to two month. If I was going to get addicted, it would have happened already.

Were you blinking excessively and itching your face when you asked them? They might have thought you WERE hooked already. ;-)

Morphine is not the problem. Flying a plane when you're on morphine is the problem.

Bingo.

She says she doesn't have any side effects from morphine

Isn’t constipation the classic side-effect? So much so that opiates are the classic anti-diarrheal drug. Maybe there are ways of balancing that. I’m not actually asking you to ask your mom, just thinking aloud :)

I’m not actually asking you to ask your mom, just thinking aloud :)

-------

Arch Stanton on the phone, in Anytown, USA...

Arch: Hey, Mom?

Mom: Yes, honey?

Arch: Does the morphine make it hard to poop?

Mom: What?

Arch: Does the white horse stop you up?

Mom: Ewwww.....honey, that's not.....really......

Arch: Come on Mom, there are some guys on a baseball board discussing opiates and I told them you are immune to their effects, so they asked about being blocked up. I have to give them an answer...

Mom: <crickets>

-------

At least he didn’t feel any pain.

sn’t constipation the classic side-effect? So much so that opiates are the classic anti-diarrheal drug

It’s only one opioid receptor subtype involved in gut motility, the mu subtype which has no analgesic or euphoric effect. Immodium AD targets this receptor if I recall my pharmacology correctly.

It says traces were found but what is the lifetime of those drugs in the blood stream? Iirc its apx 30 days for pot and about 48 hours for coke. What are the odds it was from weeks or days berore the flight.

What are the odds it was from weeks or days before the flight?

Forget it, they're on a roll.

He had medically-active amounts of Ambien in his blood. That’s “traces” only in the sense that more than “traces” would put you into a coma.

Also, the amount of morphine he had in is blood, while not on it’s own enough to impair, is not “popped a pill last week” levels. Because of tolerance it’s not a strong correlation like BAC to impairment but it looks like anything over 0.2mg is risky and he was at 0.16. And he was stacking with booze and Ambien.

It’s not pearl clutching to call this massively reckless.

A friend of a friend has a small, four person plane. He flew out to Michigan for a weekend at my golf club, and took us up one afternoon and flew us over our club and a couple other courses we played that weekend. I'm not afraid to fly but getting in a small plane with a guy I'd been drinking with at strip club the day before kind of scared me, until he started going through his checklists and talking with the tower. I figured that he really knew his stuff. Anyway, we played 18 the morning before took us up, and my club "hides" a bottle of Jameson in a small mailbox stuck in a rock wall on the 18th tee. It's tradition to take a swig before teeing off on the last hole. Not this time for him, though. I mean, it was only one small shot, but as he said, "not one drop of alcohol for 12 hours bottle to throttle". My takeaway is that if your serious about your own safety, you don't screw around with anything before flying.

I mean, there's no indication that any of the substances found in Halladay's system were responsible for his actions or his demise, but it indicates a lack of attention to one's own safety that is certainly very dangerous.

Constipation is no joke. Believe me.