Information AboutOpium |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT OPIUM | |
| medicinal plants | |
| opioids | |
|
]] Opium is a resinous Narcotic formed from the Latex released by lacerating (or "scoring") the immature seed pods of Opium Poppies ''( Papaver somniferum)''. It contains up to 16% Morphine , an Opiate Alkaloid , which is most frequently processed chemically to produce Heroin for the black market. The resin also includes non-narcotic Alkaloids , such as Papaverine and Noscapine . '''Meconium''' historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the poppy or different species of poppies. Modern opium production is the culmination of millennia of production, in which the source poppy, methods of extraction and processing, and methods of consumption have become increasingly potent. Cultivation of opium poppies for food, Anesthesia , and ritual purposes dates back to at least the Neolithic . The Sumer ian, Assyria n, Egyptian , Minoan , Greek , Roman , and Persian Empires each made widespread use of opium, which was the most potent form of Pain Relief then available, allowing ancient surgeons to perform prolonged surgical procedures. Opium is mentioned in the most important medical texts of the ancient world, including the Ebers Papyrus and the writings of Dioscorides , Galen , and Avicenna . Widespread medical use of unprocessed opium continued through the American Civil War before giving way to Morphine and its successors, which could be injected at a precisely controlled dosage. American morphine is still produced primarily from poppies grown and processed in India in the traditional manner, and remains the standard of pain relief for casualties of war. Recreational use of the drug began in a sexual context in China in the fifteenth century, but was limited by its rarity and expense. Opium trade became more regular by the seventeenth century, when it was mixed with tobacco for smoking, and addiction was first recognized. Opium prohibition in China began in 1729, and was followed by nearly two centuries of exponentially increasing opium use. British smugglers favored opium as a product cheaply obtained from Indian provinces under British exploitation, which was highly valued in China. A massive confiscation of opium by the Chinese led to two Opium Wars in 1840 and 1858, in which Britain won the right to trade opium to every part of China. After 1860 opium use continued to increase with widespread domestic production in China, until more than a quarter of the male population was addicted by 1905. Recreational or addictive opium use in other nations remained rare into the late nineteenth century, recorded by an ambivalent literature that sometimes praised the drug. Global regulation of opium began with the stigmatization of Chinese and Indian immigrants and Opium Dens , leading rapidly from town ordinances in the 1870s to the formation of the International Opium Commission in 1909. During this period the portrayal of opium in literature became squalid and violent, British opium trade was largely supplanted by domestic Chinese production, purified Morphine and Heroin became widely available for injection, and Patent Medicines containing opiates reached a peak of popularity. Opium was prohibited in many countries during the early twentieth century, leading to the modern pattern of opium production as a precursor for illegal recreational drugs or tightly regulated legal prescription drugs. Illicit opium production, now dominated by Afghanistan, has increased steadily in recent years to over 6600 tons yearly, nearly one-fifth the level of production in 1906. Opium for illegal use is generally converted into Heroin , which doubles its potency, and taken by Intravenous Injection , which more than doubles the quantity of drug entering the body. HISTORY Ancient use (4200 BC - 800 BC) region of India (probably ''Papaver somniferum var. album''.1)]] The use of the opium poppy dates from time immemorial. At least seventeen finds of ''Papaver somniferum'' from Neolithic settlements have been reported throughout Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, including the placement of large numbers of poppy seed capsules at a burial site (the ''Cueva de los Murciélagos'' ("Bat cave") in Spain), which have been carbon dated to 4200 B.C. Numerous finds of ''Papaver somniferum'' or ''Papaver setigerum'' from Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have also been reported.2 ''(citing Andrew Sherrat)'' The first known cultivation of opium poppies was in Mesopotamia , approximately 3400 B.C., by Sumerians who called the plant ''Hul Gil'', the "joy plant".34 Tablets found at Nippur , a Sumerian spiritual center south of Baghdad , described the collection of poppy juice in the morning and its use in production of opium. Cultivation continued in the Middle East by the Assyrians , who also collected poppy juice in the morning after scoring the pods with an iron scoop; they called the juice ''aratpa-pal'', possibly the root of ''Papaver''. Opium production continued under the Babylonians and Egyptians . Opium was used with Poison Hemlock to put people quickly and painlessly to death, but it was also used in medicine. The Ebers Papyrus , ca. 1500 B.C., describes a way to "prevent the excessive crying of children" using grains of the poppy-plant strained to a pulp. '' Spongia Somnifera '', sponges soaked in opium, were used during surgery. The Egyptians cultivated ''opium thebaicum'' in famous poppy fields around 1300 B.C. Opium was traded from Egypt by the Phoenicia ns and Minoan s to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea , including Greece , Carthage , and Europe . By 1100 B.C. opium was cultivated on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus , where surgical quality knives were used to score the poppy pods, and opium was cultivated, traded, and smoked.5 Opium was also mentioned after the Persian conquest of Assyria and Babylonia in the sixth century B.C.. From the earliest finds opium has appeared to have ritual significance, and it has been speculated that ancient priests may have used the drug as a proof of healing power. In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, its invention credited to Thoth, and it was said to have been given by Isis to Ra as treatment for a headache. A figure of the Minoan "goddess of the narcotics", wearing a crown of three opium poppies, ca. 1300 B.C., was recovered from the Sanctuary of Gazi, Crete, together with a simple smoking apparatus.6 ''(includes image)'' The Greek gods Hypnos (Sleep), Nyx (Night), and Thanatos (Death) were depicted wreathed in poppies or holding poppies. Poppies also frequently adorned statues of Apollo , Asklepios , Pluto , Demeter , Aphrodite , Kybele and Isis , symbolizing nocturnal oblivion. Ancient Greece and Rome (800 BC-600 AD) Opium was well known to the ancient Greeks. The first Greek written account of poppy production was by Hesiod in the eighth century B.C., who called the poppy plant ''μήκωνιον'' (mekonion), and its juice ''όπός μήκων'' ''(opos mekun)''. Homer described to his audience an exhausted warrior dropping his heavy helmeted head, like a drooping poppy bud. Hippocrates recognized opium as useful in treating internal diseases, diseases of women and epidemics. Alexander The Great is credited with introducing opium to India and Persia in 330 B.C. The Greeks distinguished opium from a weaker drug, "meconium". This could refer specifically to a different poppy strain e.g. ''Euphorbia paralias'' (paralion). Alternatively, "meconium" was used by Hippocrates , Pedanius Dioscorides , Pliny The Elder , and Scribonius Largus to refer to juice emanating from the leaves and fruit of the poppy, or obtained from them by boiling ''(see Poppy Tea )'', or tablets formed by crushing them in a mortar and pestle.7 The Greek όπός or όπιον became Roman ''opium'', and later Persian ''ab-yun'', Arabic ''af-yum'', and Chinese ''af-yong''.8 Because variants of "opos" or "opion" are widely used to denote the sap throughout the world, even where the plant itself is known by indigenous names, it was formerly thought that the Greeks first discovered the collection of poppy sap, and that previous use had been limited to consumption of seed capsules.9 Curiously, many ancient physicians described many species of poppies, giving only limited preference to ''Papaver somniferum''.10 with 22 chromosomes, compared to the 11 of ''Papaver somniferum'', making it an unlikely ancestor.11 In ''De Medicina'' (ca. 30 AD), Aulus Cornelius Celsus detailed many uses for "poppy-tears", as an emollient for painful joints and anal fissures, in anodynes (pills promoting relief of pain through sleep), in Antidotes for poisoning (including the Mithridatium ), for use in Colic , and to promote micturition.12 He also recommended the juice of boiled poppy heads for procuring sleep, treating earaches, intestinal gripings, inflammation of the womb, and to reduce the flow of phlegm into the eyes. However, Celsus is thought to have used a wild poppy, '' Papaver Rhoeas '', with a very low opiate content,13 and in any case did not regard it as uniquely powerful. He described "poppy-tears" as one of many emollient herbs and minerals, used as an ingredient in some formulations for pain but not others. Despite the widespread therapeutic and possible ritual use of the drug, and although drunkenness from wine was well documented, there is very little evidence that opium addiction or Hedonistic use of opium occurred in the ancient world.14 The best candidates for opium addiction noted from ancient accounts are Ovid and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius . Another difference from common modern practice is that ancient authors such as Hippocrates and Celsus often described the topical use of opium or "poppy-tears" directly at the site of pain, in the eye, or introduced into a wound. When administered directly at the site of pain, morphine has recently been recognized to have a moderate analgesic effect, relying on peripheral opioid receptors, and this limited dosage does not have addictive or life-threatening effects.1516 Islamic Empire (600-1500 A.D.) | ||
| Somewhere Between 400 And 1200 AD, Arab Traders Introduced Opium To China The Persian Physician, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/al-Razi" class="copylinks">Al-Razi (845-930 AD), who was born near Tehran and maintained a laboratory and school in Baghdad , and was a student and critic of Galen , made use of opium in anesthesia and recommended its use for the treatment of melancholy in ''Man la Yahduruhu Al-Tabib'', a home medical manual directed toward ordinary citizens for self-treatment if a doctor was not available19{{cite journalurl=http://wwwjewishvirtuallibraryorg/jsource/biography/Razihtmldate=2002-01title=Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi |
|
| The Standard Medical Use Of Opium Persisted Well Into The Nineteenth Century US President | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/William_Henry_Harrison" class="copylinks">William Henry Harrison was treated with opium in 1841, and in the American Civil War , the Union Army used 28 million  Ounce s of opium tincture and powder and about 500,000 opium pills During this time of popularity, users called opium ''"God's Own Medicine"''{{cite webauthor=Donna Youngdate=2007-04-15url=http://wwwashporg/s_ashp/article_newsaspCID=167&DID=2024&id=19461title=Scientists Examine Pain Relief and Addictionaccessdate=2007-06-06 |
|
|