Emerald City

Opium is a naturally occurring narcotic derived from the annual plant Papaver somniferum, widely known as the opium poppy. Although readily recognized in many countries and even celebrated at various times and places in history, the opium poppy lives legally in the United States and many other countries today only in memory and myth. For example, these poppies are popularly recognized in the United States for their role in the children s story, The Wizard of Oz, as the flowers the Wicked Witch used to put Dorothy and her companions to sleep as they traveled to the Emerald City in the mythical land of Oz. However, the true history of the drug and the poppy flower tells an intriguing story in itself. 

There I am sure the dance of the labyrinth will lead me to the emerald city. 

There were several roads nearby, but it did not take her long to find the one paved with yellow bricks. Within a short time she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow roadbed... The next morning, as soon as the sun was up, they started on their way, and soon saw a beautiful green glow in the sky just before them. That must be the Emerald City said Dorothy. 

J. Karl Franson, From Vanity Fair to Emerald City Baum s Debt to Bunyan , Children s Literature, 23 (1995), 91-114. 

Hermes Trismegistus. The emerald-tablets of Thoth-the-Atlantean a literal translation of one of the most ancient and secret of the great works of the ancient wisdom. Translated by Doreal. Kansas City Brotherhood of the White Temple, 1939. 71p. 

Portland could easily be called the City of Bridges - fourteen major bridges span the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Its high-tech businesses, activist community and emerald forests on the outskirts of downtown have brought it nicely into the 21st century. And with its healthy amount of open-space, a good public transit system and a compact downtown, Portland has protected itself from urban sprawl. 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 3219 Emerald Ln., Ste. 500 Jefferson City, MO 65109 (573) 636-3246 Fax (573) 636-8901... 

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