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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the time-to-convert-the-meth-lab dept.

The BBC is reporting that...

Scientists have figured out how to brew morphine using the same kit used to make beer at home.

They have genetically modified yeast to perform the complicated chemistry needed to convert sugar to morphine.

Further...

If you brew beer at home, then you are relying on microscopic yeast that turns sugars into alcohol. But by borrowing DNA from plants, scientists have been genetically engineering yeasts that can perform each of the steps needed to convert sugar into morphine. One stage of the process - the production of an intermediary chemical called reticuline - had been a stumbling block.

That has been solved by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, and the scientists say it should now be possible to put all the steps together and "brew" morphine.

Dr John Dueber, a bioengineer at the university, said: "What you really want to do from a fermentation perspective is to be able to feed the yeast glucose, which is a cheap sugar source, and have the yeast do all the chemical steps required downstream to make your target therapeutic drug.

"With our study, all the steps have been described, and it's now a matter of linking them together and scaling up the process. It's not a trivial challenge, but it's doable."

Abstract from Nature.


[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

Related Stories

Genetically Engineered Yeasts Produce Thebaine and Hydrocodone 27 comments

Back in May, UC Berkeley scientists reported using genetically modified yeast to "brew" morphine. Now Stanford University scientists have created strains of yeast that can make other opiate painkillers:

A strain of yeast engineered in a lab was able to transform sugar into a pain-killing drug — called hydrocodone — for the first time. And a second strain was able to produce thebaine, an opiate precursor that drug companies use to make oxycodone. The findings, published in Science, could completely change the way drug companies make pain-relieving medicine. Unfortunately, it may also open the door to less positive outcomes, like "home-brewed" heroin.

[...] In the short term, yeast-made opiates might lead to cheaper drugs. But the true excitement is farther down the road: scientists may be able to use this technology to make more effective pain-killers. "We're not just limited to what happens in nature or what the poppies make," Smolke says. "We can begin to modify these compounds in ways that will, for example, reduce the negative side effects that are associated with these medicines, but still keep the pain relieving properties." The two yeast strains aren't anywhere near ready for commercial use. Right now, they make such small quantities of drugs that it would take about 4,400 gallons of engineered yeast to make a single dose of standard pain-relieving medicine. So the next step for researchers is boosting the drug yields — which could take years. And for once, that might actually be a good thing; health officials and scientists will need that time to figure out how to keep these strains from being used to fuel the illegal drug market.

[More after the break.]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:39AM (#187950)

    On every street corner.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 26 2015, @11:29AM

      by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @11:29AM (#187967) Journal

      Bring Back the Opium Dens...

      AND SHERLOCK!

      ...I mean.... damn... bring it back! Come on... COME ON!

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:54PM (#188601)

      > Bring Back the Opium Dens
      > On every street corner.

      Like much of modern life, its been moved into the home.
      Now people have vicodin, oxycontin and percocet in their bathroom medicine cabinets.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:40AM (#187952)

    >It calls for tight controls on such genetically modified yeasts.

    The next wikileaks should post full genomes.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:48PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:48PM (#188131) Journal

      Actually it does. This research is at once cool, and risky. There are multitudes of wild yeasts floating around reproducing themselves and doing interesting things -- and this yeast if it escapes the lab and can self-reproduce will do that as well. If it out-competes other yeasts, we could find a lot of our foods and drinks that sit around a bit, start making us high. I have nothing against drug use -- I think all drugs should be legalized -- but I personally don't want to be a morphine zombie even accidentally. I know this is sort of Sci-Fear-ish ... I just hope they would also figure out a way to prevent these engineered yeasts from self-replicating because the world in general, is a great place for yeast.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday May 26 2015, @05:14PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 26 2015, @05:14PM (#188147)

        If it out-competes other yeasts

        That would be very unlikely if its blowing valuable, limited ATP on making humans high and its neighbor spends the same energy on replicating faster or tolerating weirder environmental conditions.

        The contamination issue is likely to be a very severe problem, all you need is a stray spore, and suddenly you've got a batch of grain alcohol instead of what you were hoping for.

      • (Score: 2) by Snow on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:25PM

        by Snow (1601) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:25PM (#188207) Journal

        Yea, that would suck! I constantly worry about normal yeast getting into my coca-cola and turning it into fine whiskey, or whatever fermented coke turns into (I assume it's fine whiskey).

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Tuesday May 26 2015, @09:40PM

          by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @09:40PM (#188289) Journal

          No yeast makes whiskey. Some yeasts make a desirable set of alcohols which are the precursor ingredients to whiskeys after much processing. Anyway, chances are that if you leave that Coke sitting around long enough, something will grow. It might be mold, it might be yeast -- even OJ has a small amount of alcohol in it from wild yeasts. http://quezi.com/14067 [quezi.com]

          There's a fruit that gets reliably boozy sitting on the ground that animals in Africa love -- the funniest part in this video is the elephant who can't even stand up, desperately reaching out with his trunk for another fruit laying on the ground. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50tlF3kGbT4 [youtube.com]

          Anyway, the general answer is that anything with sugar you leave out in the environment, is going to ferment in some way. But not into whiskey. Tangent: Springbank Distillery tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffIDf_WtKpk [youtube.com]

          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:03AM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:03AM (#188377)

            It's easy enough to make sour dough bread using wild yeasts. Make a paste out of flour and water, and leave it in a warm place for a week, removing half the paste every day, and refreshing it with more flour and water, and after a few days of awful old socks smells, it turns into a great starter for amking your own bread.
            According to the various great how-tos on the internet sour dough bread made this way tastes different depending on where you live.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:45AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @10:45AM (#187954) Journal

    Tight controls on sugar and bottles then?

    The product probably needs some filtration or such before it can be used?
    (more opportunities for state control..)

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by mtrycz on Tuesday May 26 2015, @11:45AM

      by mtrycz (60) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @11:45AM (#187969)

      There is obviously always risk for infection, and anybody that has brewn beer by themselves knows it's really important to keep their equipment sterile. Here we're talking about lab-grade equipment, tho, so they know how to handle their stuff.

      I think the real story here is that they freaking *engineered* a living thing to shit exactly what they want/need (as opposed to selecting species that shit what you want). This could open a whole new field for production of things, as well as pose new hazards.

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      • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday May 26 2015, @12:31PM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 26 2015, @12:31PM (#187982) Journal

        This could open a whole new field for production of things, as well as pose new hazards.

        Free range organic designer drugs.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:25PM

          by KGIII (5261) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:25PM (#188000) Journal

          It is fairly trivial to turn the morphine into heroin, I wonder how long before they have branded heroin on the streets of Philadelphia. Then again, as this isn't natural morphine the process may change. Cheap diactyl morphine for everyone! Woohoo!

          --
          "So long and thanks for all the fish."
          • (Score: 2) by demonlapin on Tuesday May 26 2015, @09:32PM

            by demonlapin (925) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @09:32PM (#188284) Journal
            Morphine is morphine, and acetylation doesn't care about the source.
            • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Wednesday May 27 2015, @02:38AM

              by KGIII (5261) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @02:38AM (#188413) Journal

              I figured that was the case but I was not positive. I was not sure that the molecular structure was the same or if it was just close enough (say an extra hydrogen) so that they did not bother to rename it and called it morphine much like the analogues people create and have cooked up in China. As an aside, I would not recommend that in the US. The Analogue Act is a pretty mean beast and federal court is nothing nice and the penitentiaries are even worse I understand, I have never had the opportunity to personally experience either but that is not for lack of trying. :D

              --
              "So long and thanks for all the fish."
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:31AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:31AM (#188434)

                about the only variable would be the amount of 6-mono-acetyl morphine, or rather the ratio of 6-MAM to diacetyl. the acetylation process basically goes morphine -> 6-MAM -> diacetyl, and you want it to totally convert to diacetyl for the best high and best rush - 6-MAM is a pretty tame shot by comparison.

                • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:21AM

                  by KGIII (5261) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:21AM (#188455) Journal

                  That is good to know. Thanks. Some lab equipment and some yeast, eh? Hmm...

                  --
                  "So long and thanks for all the fish."
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:48PM

        by LoRdTAW (3755) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:48PM (#188015) Journal

        There is obviously always risk for infection, and anybody that has brewn beer by themselves knows it's really important to keep their equipment sterile.

        You underestimate the lengths addicts will go to get high and the unscrupulous dealers looking to make money.

        Here we're talking about lab-grade equipment, tho, so they know how to handle their stuff.

        Again, don't underestimate greed. Not every drug dealer is an ignorant street thug. The guys at the top can pay top dollar to anyone willing to work for them.

        • (Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:26AM

          by stormwyrm (717) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:26AM (#188522) Journal

          You underestimate the lengths addicts will go to get high and the unscrupulous dealers looking to make money.

          Indeed. There's stuff out there called desomorphine [wikipedia.org], better known by its Russian street name 'krokodil' (crocodile), so named because of the toxic effects that the generally impure desomorphine cooked by illicit laboratories has. The toxic impurities involved in its synthesis turn the user's skin scaly and green like a crocodile's [io9.com] (warning: graphic images in link) before rotting away. Pure desomorphine won't do that but illicit labs won't bother removing the toxic impurities as that's a lot of work. And addicts will risk this type of horrible shit happening to them for a high.

          --
          Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
        • (Score: 1) by ConceptJunkie on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:15PM

          by ConceptJunkie (5018) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:15PM (#188671)

          Again, don't underestimate greed. Not every drug dealer is an ignorant street thug.

          For a good documentary on this, see "Angels' Revenge", also known as "Angels' Brigade":

          http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 [imdb.com]

      • (Score: 4, Touché) by captain normal on Tuesday May 26 2015, @03:09PM

        by captain normal (2205) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @03:09PM (#188048)

        "I think the real story here is that they freaking *engineered* a living thing to shit exactly what they want/need "....

        Now wouldn't it be nice if they "engineered" a wildflower that grows in just about any dirt and could make a sap that could easily be refined into morphine.

        Oh...wait..

        --
        When life isn't going right, go left.
      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:57AM

        by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:57AM (#188442)

        I was under the impression that we'd been engineering microbes for such purposes for years.

        • (Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:08AM

          by mtrycz (60) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:08AM (#188512)

          Ain't this the first major result?

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          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @05:12PM

            by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @05:12PM (#188696)

            I believe insulin holds that crown.

            • (Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday May 27 2015, @07:25PM

              by mtrycz (60) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @07:25PM (#188739)

              References? From what I remember, they were extracting insuline from pigs. At least when I last checked.

              --
              In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
              • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:53PM

                by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:53PM (#188776)

                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Synthesis_2 [wikipedia.org]

                The first genetically engineered, synthetic "human" insulin was produced using E. coli in 1978 by Arthur Riggs and Keiichi Itakura at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in collaboration with Herbert Boyer at Genentech.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:08PM (#189228)

        "brewn"?

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:34PM (#188007)

    I'm just too tired to make a racist, sexist, homophobic troll-rant.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:54PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:54PM (#188019)

    IF this is cheap, this is going to collapse the economy in Afghanistan and other poppy growing areas. That'll dump them into turmoil, leading to more US troops on the ground, foreign advisers and extremist leaders and all that results from that. So it may increase government expenses in non-anticipated ways. The strategic effect on the war on some drugs is going to be no longer need to cross a border, at least for this, so maybe they'll look at borders even less (if thats even theoretically possible LOL). It'll have some effect on street price. And collapsing the price will drop petty street crime rates, which is a net positive to society. Its hard to say what the total net effect will be, if you save $1B on local cops but blow $0.5B on .mil and $0.5B on ngo relief efforts it might be a wash.

    Note that almost all of the discussion assumes local growth/synthesis will be cheaper than the existing smuggling business. There's no chemical engineering rule that says synthesis must always be cheaper than importation. Often enough, it isn't. Its quite possible it'll be so expensive that it'll exist solely to mess with the DEA and set a firm price ceiling.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @02:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @02:00PM (#188022)

      Why would it be any more expensive than brewing beer? People do that all the time...

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by theluggage on Tuesday May 26 2015, @02:59PM

        by theluggage (1797) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @02:59PM (#188045)

        Why would it be any more expensive than brewing beer?

        Well, first you'd have to lay your hands on the magic GM yeast (which I'm sure will be locked up very carefully). Then you'd have to purify your product (probably a bit trickier than turning beer into ethanol). Of course, for the illegal market, only terminally ill chemistry teachers will give a fuck about the purity and if they stick some hops in the mix, morphine-laced beer might become the tipple of choice amongst smackheads.

        Bad news is that legitimate home brewers will probably have to start worrying aboug getting SWATted...

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:12PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:12PM (#188100)

          If only it was possible to grow yeast and share it with your friends...

          • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:22PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:22PM (#188107)

            If only it was possible to grow yeast and share it with your friends...

            You met her too?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:16PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:16PM (#189115)

          US military officials say no signs of infection at 19 separate military and civilian labs that mistakenly received anthrax samples - @NBCNews

          If you can 'accidentally' get your hands on anthrax, it seems likely it will be trivial to get some of this yeast. It only takes one 'mistake' and it's out there.

          • (Score: 2) by theluggage on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:39AM

            by theluggage (1797) on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:39AM (#190068)

            US military officials say no signs of infection at 19 separate military and civilian labs that mistakenly received anthrax samples

            Yeah, but that's only the US Military trying to prevent the human race being wiped out - minor league stuff compared to the DEA protecting people from themselves while guarding alcohol and tobacco interests :-)

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday May 26 2015, @05:09PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 26 2015, @05:09PM (#188142)

        The assumption is that it'll be as tough as ethanol yeast. Some biological things are not tough, picky about pH and electrolyte concentrations, picky about temperature, easy to bacterially contaminate and kill off. Superficially ethanol yeast only eats sugar in practice theres lots of discussion about trace minerals in water and stuff some of which is true and some of which is BS.

        As an example I've done some brewing and wines/meads are pretty easy but beers have to be insta-chilled thru a certain range of temps with a copper tubing worm because spending time at certain temps results in bad tasting compounds forming. Then you'd like fizzy beer so you prime with sugar before bottling which can make sediment or explosions or if you're really unlucky you'll contaminate the bottle and it'll be horrific. Even something as "simple" as beer is pretty easy to F up. If you aerate wort before adding the yeast thats great, the oxygen will help the yeast grow faster, but if you aerate partially fermented brew it'll taste weird because stuff is oxidizing. Meanwhile you need to keep it out of the sun, or dark in general, the sun will make beer skunky.

        A good analogy would be lawn grass vs opium poppies. Well, lawn grass grows everywhere so I'm sure it'll be economically sensible to just throw poppy seeds all over the ground and it'll be simple. And then you get people who threw the seeds on a blacktop parking lot, threw them into the california desert where it hasn't rained in 10 years, threw the seeds next to someones birdfeeder so all you get is fat birds, its can be pretty complicated!

        Another fun thing to think about is ethanol yeast dies around champagne levels of ethanol at most, but thats enough to get people pretty well drunk. If it takes a 55 gallon drum of fermenting wort to get someone high off the new stuff, you gotta think about concentration issues.

        Finally by analogy one classic problem with concentrated ethanol is fusel oils, god only knows what these whacked out yeast are going to make as accidental byproducts.

        • (Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:26PM

          by curunir_wolf (4772) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:26PM (#188209)

          As an example I've done some brewing and wines/meads are pretty easy but beers have to be insta-chilled thru a certain range of temps with a copper tubing worm because spending time at certain temps results in bad tasting compounds forming.

          What a load of crap. I make beer all the time, and it's significantly better than almost anything I can buy at the store. Lager yeasts are a little more difficult, because, yes, you wort needs to be in the 53-58 degrees F to ferment well. Ale is much easier. Pretty much any marginally climate controlled space will do (like your house). Ale yeasts are quite happy anywhere between 68 and 78 (with typically 72-76 the ideal range). If your beer has banana flavors it got too hot for too long, but even then, if you throw enough hops into the secondary, it's eminently drinkable.

          --
          I am a crackpot
          • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:49PM

            by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:49PM (#188227)

            Although the meta argument stands that the very disagreement over the endless small details of brewing does fit the larger argument that its not likely to be trivial, unlikely someone could set out to brew a nice dry wine and accidentally end up with a barrel of morphine.

            • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:03AM

              by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:03AM (#188445) Journal

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast#Wine [wikipedia.org]

              Fermentation can be done with this endogenous "wild yeast,"[56] but this procedure gives unpredictable results, which depend upon the exact types of yeast species present. For this reason, a pure yeast culture is usually added to the must; this yeast quickly dominates the fermentation. The wild yeasts are repressed, which ensures a reliable and predictable fermentation.

              I guess it's an open question whether wild yeast brewers would eventually become unable to make morphine free wild beers/etc. but there are already many things that can spoil it.

              The most alcohol-resistant yeasts top out at 22% alcohol concentration. If yeast isn't affected by morphine, that could say something about morphine brewing yeast's ability to adapt and proliferate.

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          • (Score: 2) by tonyPick on Wednesday May 27 2015, @02:15PM

            by tonyPick (1237) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @02:15PM (#188615) Homepage Journal

            Huh, late to the discussion, but my inner brewing geek wants to reference these links:

            http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/19/fermentation-temperature-pt-1-exbeeriment-results/ [brulosophy.com]
            http://brulosophy.com/2015/05/11/fermentation-temperature-pt-2-english-ale-exbeeriment-results/ [brulosophy.com]

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:39PM

      by sjames (2882) on Tuesday May 26 2015, @04:39PM (#188125) Journal

      In this case though, where the yeast would do all the work, the synthesis would be dirt cheap. It's incredibly easy to grow yeast, even in a simple kitchen application (it's done all the time :-)

      At worst, it would be about as "hard" as maintaining a sourdough culture.

      Purifying the morphine out would be more challenging, but when have street dealers ever concerned themselves about that? It might also be that with the cheap mass production, oral consumption might become practical for the junkie and so would reduce the need for purification somewhat.

      • (Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:00AM

        by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:00AM (#188425) Journal

        That would entirely depend on whether morphine has the same efect when ingested vs injected. If some part of the digestion process broke the molecule up prior to it being able to enter the bloodstream, it would indeed have to be purified as I doubt that injecting a solution along with whatever else by-products were there would be that healthy (even on this subjective scale) for a person.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:36AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:36AM (#188437)

          its pretty well-known that morphine has a really low bioavailability, up to 80% of it gets wasted in first-pass metabolism, destroyed by the liver before it even makes it into the bloodstream. it really is a waste to take morphine or heroin orally, but insufflation and rectal administration have very high bioavailabilities, so at worst you just need it pure enough to stuff up your nose, but injection is highly preferable, and some people will inject regardless of how purified it is, just so long as they know it won't kill them.

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:16AM

          by sjames (2882) on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:16AM (#188517) Journal

          It has a much reduced effect when ingested, but if you can have a nearly endless supply from a vat in your basement that you can keep going with little more than table sugar, who cares if you need 10 times as much? The chemistry to convert from morphine to heroine isn't too hard. I doubt that at least rudimentary concentration of the product would be that hard.