I did it once with hydrocodone. I powderized 6 tabs, dissolved it in water, let it sit in the freezer for a half hour, then strained it through a coffee filter and drank the water. It wasn't 100% pure, but I have to say it worked pretty good. It takes effect MUCH faster and you avoid all that acetominophen junk that's bad for your liver, esp. while drinking.
The cold water extraction still works. Tylenol 3's have acetaminophen and codeine in them. The cold water extraction takes advantage of the fact that acetaminophen is not very water soluble, while codeine (sulfate or phosphate, doesn't matter) is dissolved in water very easily. Making the solution cold also helps because as a general trend, solubility of a solute in a solvent goes down with temperature - this causes the acetaminophen to be even less water soluble. Basically what is going on is that the codeine dissolves in the water, the acetaminophen doesn't. Filter out the solid (acetaminophen, binders, etc), and you are left with an aqueous solution of codeine + disassociated ions. Keep in mind my discussion of this matter is from a purely scientific point of view and in no way is it meant to be taken as a method of drug preparation. All i want to do is spread understanding of chemistry and avoid (possibly dangerous)misconceptions from being spread.
