Poppy juice

Mohn-saft, OT. poppy juice, opium, -samen, ot. poppyseed, -saure,/. meconic acid, -stoff, m. narcotine, -stroh, n. lit., poppy straw (residue from extraction of poppy heads and stems). 

The word opium comes from the Greek opos (juice) or opion (poppy juice). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, opium is a reddish-brown, strongiy scented addictive drug prepared from the thickened dried iatex of the unripe cap-suies of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, used illicitly as a narcotic, and occasionally medicinally as a sedative and analgesic. ... 

Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and naturalist, writes about the use of poppy juice, a form of opium. 

Opium or gum opium is the air-dried, milky exudation obtained by incising the unripe capsules of Papaver somniferum Linne or its variety P. album DeCandolle. The term opium is from the Greek opion, meaning poppy juice. Papaver is the Latin name for the poppy and somniferum is Latin meaning to produce sleep. The opium poppy is an annual herb with large, showy, solitary flowers varying in color from white (var. album) to pink or purple (Figure 47.1). 

The latex obtained by incision of the unripe seed capsule of the poppy, Papaver somniferum, and known as opium is the source of several pharmacologically important alkaloids. Dioskurides, in about a.d. 77, referred to both the latex (opos) and a total plant extract (mekonion) and to the use of oral and inhaled (pipe-smoked) opium to induce a state of euphoria and sedation. Since before the Christian era the therapeutic properties of opium were evident, with the first written reference to poppy juice being by Theophrastus in the third century b.c. 

Although the development of trace analysis is considered to have begun with studies related to the determination of trace elements, from the pharmaceutical point of view, the beginning of this field of science should be sought in the analysis of dmgs and especially in the search for active compounds in different t3 pes of pharmaceutical decoctions, tinctures, and macerations. Isolation of opium and later morphine from poppy juice, or isolation of quinine from cinchona tree bark, were nothing other than preparation and concentration of a sample before performing trace analysis [1-3]. 

At the final stage the prescribed quantities of 55 herbs previously prepared by various processes, along with the prescribed quantity of squill and viper flesh powder (48 drachms), were added to hedychium, long pepper and poppy juice (all at 24 drachms) eight herbs including cinnamon and opobalsam (all at 12 drachms) 18 herbs including myrrh, black and white pepper and turpentine resin (at 6 drachms) 22 others and then Lemnian earth and roasted copper (at 4 drachms each) bitumen and castoreum (the secretion of beaver) 150 drachms of honey and 80 drachms of vetch meal. 

Pick early morning when morphine content is high in the Opium poppy juice. 

Opium, from the Greek opion or poppy juice somniferum from the Latin for sleep-producing. 

Datum and poppy juice were well known in the ancient world. Natural materials and their analogs are still important in drug discovery. 

Opium is an extract of the juice of the poppy Papaver somnifemm, which contains more than 20 distinct alkaloids, including morphine, codeine and papaverine. 

C17-0101. The addictive painkiller morphine, C17 Hig NO3, is the principal molecule in the milky juice that exudes from unripe poppy seed capsules. 

Opium is the dried milky juice obtained from the unripe capsules of the poppy plant, Papaver som-niferum. The word opium comes from the Greek word for sap, or juice, a reference to the substance from the seed capsules of Papaver somniferum from which the drug is derived. 

Babylonians) carved pictures of the poppy plant into tablets inscribed with the words hul ("joy ) and gil ( plant ). In the classical literature of Virgil (ist century BCE), Somnus, the Roman god of sleep (a translation of the Greek Hypnos), was sometimes described as carrying poppies and an opium container from which he poured juice into the eyes of the sleeper. Chinese legend has the poppy plant springing up from the earth where the Buddha s eyelids had fallen after he cut them off to prevent sleep. 

FIGURE 47.1 The oriental poppy (Papaver somniferum) from which opium is derived. The unripe pod from which opium juice is obtained is shown together with the flowering plant. 

Opium is obtained from the dried juice from the seed capsule of the oriental poppy, Papaver somniferum. The dried juice contains up to 17% morphine and 4% codeine by weight, as well as other, non-additive alkaloids that lack analgesic activity such as noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine. Papaveretum is a standardized preparation of opium containing 50% morphine. 

In Iraq, where ancient Sumerians lived 5,000 years ago, historians have learned that juice was extracted from a special kind of poppy known as "joy poppy" (now called the opium poppy). When dried, this juice was used to reduce pain and induce sleep. Evidence that opium was used in Egypt is found in tombs, where jars of opium were placed for use in the afterlife by people who died between 1600 and 600 B.C. 

Morphine (C17H19N03xH20, melting point 253°C) is a white powder that is derived from opium which is the dried juice obtained from unripe capsules of the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum), cultivated in various regions of the world. 

The opium poppy is an annual. When the petals drop from the white flowers, the capsules are cut. The juice exudes and hardens, forming a brownish mass that is crude opium. It contains a total of about 20 narcotics, including morphine. 

Unfortunately, to feel pain is an essential condition for survival. Pain-initiated avoidance behavior protects the individual. Morphine, obtained from opium, from the juice of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), has been known for millennia to alleviate pain. As mentioned in Chapter 5, endogenous opioids have also been identified. The word opioid is now used to refer to all drugs with morphine-like actions. The structure of morphine is shown in Figure 11.11. Diacetylmorphine (heroin) is made by acetylation at the 3 and 6 positions. 

Opium is perhaps the most important drug in the whole Materia Medica. It is the half-dried juice obtained by cutting the unripe capsule of the White or Eastern Poppy, Papaver somniferum (Nat. Ord. Papaveracece). There are many kinds of opium on commerce. The Turkey or Smyrna Opium, which occurs in small irregular masses, covered outside with the capsules of a species of dock, is of excellent quality, and generally preferred. The various kinds of Opium produced in India are also very good. 

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