Opium, history

McGoy, Alfred W. Opium History Up to 1858 a.d. Available online at http //www.opioids.eom/opium/history/.Accessed June 2, 2006. 

More interesting, as regards future developments, are the eiforts now being made to dispense with opium as an intermediate in the production of morphine. The early history of experiments in the direct extraction of the alkaloid from poppy capsules and poppy straw has been recounted by Goris and by Wiiest and Frey. ... 

The development of the first effective analgesic drug, opium, was almost certainly adventitious, and occurred in prehistoric times. The use of the dried exudate from slitting the immature capsule of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, as an analgesic, sedative and euphoriant, has a long folkloric history. Isolation of the principal active component morphine (1) as a pure crystalline compound represented one of the early landmarks in organic chemistry. 

Coleridge did his best while under opium, and we owe the loss of the end of "Kubla Khan" to the interruption of an importunate "man from Porlock, ever accursed in the history of the human race ... 

Analgesic Plants Opium Poppy History and Botany... 

The opium poppy is one of several plants that have profoundly affected human history. It has provided an unmatched medicine for... 

Booth M, Opium A History, St. Martin s Press, New York, 1984. 

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 The term opiate has largely been replaced by opioid, which represents all compounds with morphinelike activity and includes morphine, morphine derivatives, and peptides.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. 

Over the course of human history there have been countless powerful natural and artificial drugs, but none parallel opium in its mythical status, range of uses, and longevity of interest. Indeed, no other drug has had an economic, political, and social influence comparable to opium and its derivatives. Opium is the oldest drug ever cultivated and actively pursued by the human species it even predates the fermentation of alcohol. The story of opium could fill entire libraries with historical, clinical, and anecdotal information. 

The method of the opium den constitutes the primary process used by the majority of opium smokers throughout history, but today, smoking opium by other methods is more prevalent in the West. There are other traditional methods of smoking... 

Opium has been used as a medicine for hundreds of years, inevitably creating countless addicts. Scientists have conducted a never-ending search for effective cures for opium addiction, morphine addiction (morphinism), and heroin addiction. For most of its history, opium addiction was treated as a disease with no cure, and doctors concerned themseives with treating the symptoms of addiction rather than the root cause. As a result, other opiates were used to lessen the effects of withdrawal. The addict is placed on a regimen of opiates that slowly decrease over time, weaning the addict from his or her addiction. This process of treatment is still used today. 

Musto, David F. The History of Legislative Control Over Opium, Cocaine, and Their Derivatives. Schaffer Library of Drug Policy. Available online at http //druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/ophs.htm.Accessed June 2,2006. 

It is hard to overemphasise the impact of the consumption of opium on China in the nineteenth century. Before this trade began, China was a proud, self-sufficient, technologically and scientifically advanced nation (some have claimed China was often 4-7 centuries in advance of the European nations in these respects). By the end of the nineteenth century China was weakened to the extent that it was hard to govern, impoverished and technologically surpassed by its neighbour Japan, North America and the European nations. The roots of its troubled history in the twentieth century could be said to lie in the soil of Bengal where the East India Company grew its opium. 

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