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The Opium Poppy - Natures Addictive Plant

The poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, produces opium, a powerful narcotic whose derivatives include morphine, codeine and heroin. The term narcotic refers to opium, opium derivatives, and their semi-synthetic substitutes. Narcotics are used therapeutically to treat pain, suppress cough, alleviate diarrhea, and induce anesthesia. However, they are some of the most addictive substances known to man.

With its array of colors ranging from white to pink to red to purple to blue, it is a flower that has graced gardens around the world. Yet the juice from this botanical beauty has sparked wars, created incalculable wealth, and wreaked indescribable suffering upon millions.

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The Silk Road

The Poppy, Papaver somniferum

The Origins of Opium

The earliest reference found to opium growth and use is in 3,400 B.C. when the opium poppy was cultivated in lower Mesopotamia. The Sumerians referred to it as Hul Gil, the joy plant. The Sumerians soon passed it on to the Assyrians, who in turn passed it on to the Egyptians. Its cultivation spread along the Silk Road, from the Mediterranean through Asia and finally to China where it was the catalyst for the Opium Wars of the mid-1800s.

The Silk Road is an 18th-century term for a series of interconnected routes that ran from Europe to China. By the late Middle Ages the routes extended from Italy in the West to China in the East and to Scandinavia in the North. Opium was one of the products traded along the Silk Road.

The Opium Wars Opium-An Ancient Medicine

Opium was known to ancient Greek and Roman physicians as a powerful pain reliever. It was also used to induce sleep and to give relief to the bowels. Its pleasurable effects were also noticed. Opium has many derivatives, including morphine, codeine, oxycodone, and heroin.

Originally ingested, opium was eventually found to be smokable after 16th Century traders returned from the New World with a prized product: the pipe.

The Goddess of Opium

Opium was a revered substance, as evidenced by the poppyseed headdress of this 14th century B.C. statue from Crete.

Chinese Style Opium Pipes and Opium Smoking Tools

Chinese Workers Weigh Balls of Opium

The opium was grown on English plantations in India for the East India Company, and then exported to China where addiction rates soared. In the mid-1800s, Chinese immigrants to America brought the habit of opium smoking with them and opium dens abounded.

Botanical Print of Papaver Somniferum

Syringe Kit Morphine

In 1803, morphine, the principal ingredient in opium, was extracted from its resin. It is ten times more powerful than processed opium. Hailed as a miracle drug, it was widely prescribed by physicians in the mid-1800s. Morphine is one of the most effective drugs known for the relief of severe pain and remains the standard against which new pain relievers are measured. As the 19th century progressed, American doctors and patients flocked to use the growing array of the seemingly miraculous opiates: morphine, codeine, paregoric, laudanum and heroin. The widespread adoption of the hypodermic syringe made for faster, more potent delivery of morphine. Doctors erroneously believed that because the drug was injected, it bypassed the gastro-intestinal system, and therefore would not be addictive.

Codeine
Codeine, another component of opium, is medically prescribed for the relief of moderate pain and cough suppression. It has less pain-killing ability than morphine and is usually taken orally. As a cough suppressant, it is found in a number of liquid preparations. Part of a Boston Doctors Kit, Late 19th Century

Opium and its Derivatives

Opium Products Synthetic Opiates

Morphine

Heroin
Heroin

Image courtesy of Dr. Michael A. Bozarth, University of Buffalo

Patent Medicines

Codeine Products

First synthesized from morphine in 1874, the Bayer Company of Germany introduced heroin for medical use in 1898. Physicians remained unaware of its addiction potential for years, but by 1903, heroin abuse had risen to alarming levels in the United States. All use of heroin was made illegal in 1924 by federal law.

Oxycodone
Oxycodone is synthesized from thebaine, a third component of opium. Like morphine, it is used for pain relief. Oxycodone is taken orally. When abused, the tablets are crushed and snorted, or dissolved in water and injected.

Opium Production
Legal Harvesting of Poppies in India Poppy Scoring and Scraping Tools

Scored Poppy Seed Heads Oozing Opium Resin Harvesting Opium Poppies Current Legal Production of Opium
Legal growing of opium for world medicinal use currently takes place in India, Turkey, and Australia. Two thousand tons of opium are produced annually and this supplies the world with the raw material needed to make medicinal products. The milky fluid that seeps from cuts in the unripe seed pod of the poppy is scraped off and air-dried to produce what is known as opium. The cuts are made with a multi-bladed tool and the opium resin oozes out. The semi-dried resin is harvested with a curved spatula and then dried in open wooden boxes. The dried opium resin is placed in bags or rolled into balls.

Illegal Opium Production

There are three main sources for illegal opium: Burma, Afghanistan, and Colombia. Opium and heroin are ideal trade productsthey are in great demand, are very profitable to produce, and the products take up little space. With modern transportation, opium and heroin can be moved from one country to any other within days or a few weeks.

Scraping off the Opium Resin

Dried Opium Resin Packed into Bags

Clandestine Heroin Laboratory in Afghanistan

In 2008 groups in Afghanistan produced 90 percent of the worlds illicit opium, with traffickers using clandestine labs well hidden in the countrys topography.

From Seed to Sale

Today, heroins long journey to drug addicts begins with illegal opium grown mainly by impoverished farmers on small plots in remote regions of the world. It flourishes in dry, warm climates with the vast majority of it grown in a narrow, 4,500-mile stretch of mountains extending across northern Asia from Turkey through Pakistan and Burma. The farmer takes his crop of opium to the nearest village where he will sell it to the dealer who offers him the best price.

Effects of Opiates on the Body

Good Effects of Opiates
No other substance has been found to be as effective as opiates for the management of extreme pain. In addition to its analgesic qualities, it is a very effective cough suppressant, anti-diarrhea medication, and sleep-inducer.

Bad Effects of Opiates

The major drawback of opiate use is its potential for abuse and addiction. Effects include drowsiness, slurred speech, confusion, memory loss, pupil constriction, dilation of the blood vessels causing increased pressure in the brain, constipation, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, fatigue, hallucinations, sexual dysfunction, convulsions and respiratory depression. Effects from using non-sterile needles and adulterants mixed with opiates include skin, lung, and brain abscesses, endocarditis (inflammation of the lining of the heart), infected and collapsed veins, and diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. Opiates, Along with Other Drugs, Can Have Devastating Effects on the Body

Drugs Affect Your Body

Long-term alcohol abuse can increase your risk of: Heart disease High blood pressure Liver disease Stroke Cancer of the mouth and throat Birth defects Cocaine abuse can cause: Heart attacks Seizures Coma Strokes Blurred vision Nausea Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States! Nicotine, only one of more than 4,000 chemicals in the smoke of tobacco products, substantially increases the risk of: Lung cancer Heart disease Heart attack Stroke Vascular disease Heroin use can cause: Scarred or collapsed veins Infections of the blood vessels, heart, and skin Liver disease Kidney disease Brain damage Miscarriage and premature delivery Inhalants can cause: Severe brain damage Memory loss Dementia Impaired reasoning Loss of coordination Smoking marijuana can cause: Learning and memory problems Loss of coordination Anxiety and panic attacks Increased heart rate Persistent cough Ecstasy (MDMA) can cause: Confusion Drug craving Severe anxiety Nausea Blurred vision Teeth-clenching

The Effects of Combining Drugs

Normal Respiration, Chemicals in balance

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Glutamate increases respiration

GABA decreases respiration

How Heroin Works
Image courtesy of NIDA

Result: Breathing is normal

Under the inuence of alcohol and opiates

Gl ut am at e

Alcohol decreases Glutamate

Opiates increase GABA Result: Breathing slows down and may stop
Image idea courtesy of Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah

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Heroin binds to receptors in the brain and produces feelings of euphoria. Its structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter and taps into the brains communication system, interfering with the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. This similarity in structure fools receptors and allows the drugs to lock onto and activate the nerve cells. Above is a model of an opiate chemical attaching to a receptor in the brain.

Image courtesy of Arizona Science Center

Heroin Changes the Brain

After heroin use is stopped, symptoms like depression, abnormal mood swings, insomnia, psychosis, and paranoia remain. These brain scans show a reduction in dopamine receptors which control judgment and behavior. This reduction is a result of regular heroin use.

Opiate Combinations Can Have Deadly Consequences

Many deaths occur as a result of combinations between drugs that, when taken together, can have lethal effects. Glutamate and GABA are two chemicals in the body that affect breathing. Glutamate is a chemical that works to increase breathing (excitatory). GABA is a chemical that works to decrease breathing (inhibitory). Normally these two chemicals are in balance in the body. Alcohol decreases the effects of glutamate, causing breathing to slow down. Opiates increase the effect of GABA, also causing breathing to slow down. When combined, the impulse to breathe can be totally suppressed, causing death.

For more information, please visit the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Museum and Visitors Center
700 Army Navy Drive Arlington, VA 22202 202-307-3463 Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10-4

www.deamuseum.org
Image courtesy of NIDA