Opium From Poppy Plant to Heroin

The opium poppy, or Papaver somniferum, is just one of more than 100 different poppy plant species that grow both in the wild and in cultivated settings around the world. While P. somniferum is one of many different poppies, it is one of only two species that produce morphine (the active ingredient in opium) and the only one actively cultivated to produce the drug. 

Contrary to what its name suggests, opium is not a single chemical compound. Its chemical make-up is more like a salad, consisting of various substances including sugars, proteins, acids, water, and many alkaloids, among others. The people who grow opium for its narcotic value are primarily interested in the alkaloids. 

An alkaloid is a complex organic chemical substance found in plants, which characteristically combines nitrogen with other elements, has a bitter taste, and typically has some toxic, stimulant, analgesic effects. There are many different alkaloids, 30 of which are found in the opium plant. While morphine is the most important alkaloid in opium—for its natural narcotic qualities as well as providing the chemical structure for heroin—another alkaloid, codeine, is also sought after for its medicinal attributes. Other alkaloids include papaverine, narcotine, nicotine, atropine, cocaine, and mescaline. While the concentration of morphine in opium varies depending on where and how the plant is cultivated, it typically ranges from 3 percent to 20 percent. 

From a horticultural standpoint, the opium poppy is quite a beautiful plant. The poppy is a tall, thin plant of about 90-150 centimeters with little surrounding its stem. When in bloom, its four sprouting leaves can be a variety of colors— white, pink, blue, crimson, or any combination of these. These leaves surround the plant s inner pod. The pod has three layers, including an outer wall and inner compartments where its seeds are produced. Typically about the size of a golf ball, the pod contains the plant s two major products the seeds (about 1,000 for every plant), which can be cultivated into new plants, and opium. 

Opium cultivation is widespread but mostly centered in the subtropical regions of the northern hemisphere. Specifically, the most important opium-producing regions in the world are Southeast Asia, which is believed to produce 70 percent of the 

---

The term opioid refers to any exogenous substance that acts as an agonist at any of several receptors. Opioid antagonists are drugs that bind to a receptor but produce no actions. The poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, from which opium is obtained, is grown in many areas of the world. Morphine constitutes 10% of opium, and codeine can be obtained direcdy from opium. Semisynthetic opioids such as heroin and oxycodone are obtained directly or indirectly from morphine. There are other distinct chemical classes of drugs with opioid actions, including the methadones. 

For centuries opium was used for both medicinal and recreational purposes. Derived from the poppy Papaver somniferum, it contains numerous opiates, the primary one of which is morphine. The term opiate has largely been replaced by opioid, which represents all compounds with morphinelike activity and includes morphine, morphine derivatives, and peptides. Opiate is used to refer to morphinelike drugs derived from the plant and structurally similar analogues. These drugs are frequently referred to as narcotics, a Greek term for stupor, which is scientifically obsolete. Even in its early history, opium presented a problem when it was smoked or taken orally. The introduction of the hypodermic needle and syringe, however, drastically enhanced the euphoric properties of opioids and thereby altered their abuse liability. In addition, the synthesis of heroin resulted in an opioid that was more potent than morphine and ideally suited for intravenous administration. 

We are trying in every way to support the creation of opium poppy plants. From the standpoint of the revolution, opium is one of the means of helping the revolutionary cause and must be used actively. If the question is approached from a class standpoint, opium is one of the most powerful sorts of weapons of the proletarian revolution.. .. ft is extremely important for us to export morphine and heroin in big quantities, use them to weaken the combat strength of the enemy and destroy the enemy without entering into war with him."... 

Opium has been known and used for 4000 years or more. In recent times, attempts have been made at governmental and international levels to control the cultivation of the opium poppy, but with only limited success. In endeavours to reduce drug problems involving opium-derived materials, especially heroin, where extremely large profits can be made from smuggling relatively small amounts of opium, much pharmaceutical production has been replaced by the processing of the bulkier poppy straw . The entire plant tops are harvested and dried, then extracted for their alkaloid content in the pharmaceutical industry. Poppy straw now accounts for most of the medicinal opium alkaloid production, but there is still... 

Impurities are materials found with the drug (if it is a natural product) or added to it inadvertently during processing. Cocaine and heroin are drugs that originate from plant matter and thus are usually accompanied by a number of impurities. Codeine, for example, is found in the opium poppy and is frequently an impurity in heroin. Contaminants, a subcategory of impurities, are substances that find their way into the sample by accident. If heroin is extracted with the use of lime (Ca(OH)2) contaminated with barium, the barium that ends up in the heroin is a contaminant that originated as a contaminant in the lime. 

---