Papaver somniferum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium
Slang terms[edit]
Some slang terms for opium include: "Bog O", "Shanghai Sally", "dope", "hop", "midnight oil", "O.P.", and "tar". "Dope" and "tar" can also refer to heroin. The traditional opium pipe is known as a "dream stick".[144]
The term dope entered the English language in the early nineteenth century, originally referring to viscous liquids, particularly sauces or gravy.[145] It has been used to refer to opiates since at least 1888, and this usage arose because opium, when prepared for smoking, is viscous.[145]
Chemical and physiological properties[edit]
Opium contains two main groups of alkaloids. Phenanthrenes such as morphine, codeine, andthebaine are the main psychoactive constituents.[140] Isoquinolines such as papaverine andnoscapine have no significant central nervous system effects, and are not regulated under theControlled Substances Act. Morphine is the most prevalent and important alkaloid in opium, consisting of 10–16 percent of the total, and is responsible for most of its harmful effects such aslung edema, respiratory difficulties, coma, or cardiac or respiratory collapse. Morphine binds to and activates mu opioid receptor in the brain, spinal cord, stomach and intestine. Regular use can lead to drug tolerance or physical dependence. Chronic opium addicts in 1906 China[60] or modern-day Iran[141] consume an average of eight grams of opium daily.
Both analgesia and drug addiction are functions of the mu opioid receptor, the class of opioid receptor first identified as responsive to morphine. Tolerance is associated with the superactivation of the receptor, which may be affected by the degree of endocytosis caused by the opioidadministered, and leads to a superactivation of cyclic AMP signaling.[142] Long-term use of morphine in palliative care and the management of chronic pain always entails a risk that the patient develops tolerance or physical dependence. The are many kinds of rehabilitation treatment, including pharmacologically based treatments with naltrexone, methadone, or ibogaine.[143]
Chemical and physiological properties[edit]
Opium contains two main groups of alkaloids. Phenanthrenes such as morphine, codeine, andthebaine are the main psychoactive constituents.[140] Isoquinolines such as papaverine andnoscapine have no significant central nervous system effects, and are not regulated under theControlled Substances Act. Morphine is the most prevalent and important alkaloid in opium, consisting of 10–16 percent of the total, and is responsible for most of its harmful effects such aslung edema, respiratory difficulties, coma, or cardiac or respiratory collapse. Morphine binds to and activates mu opioid receptor in the brain, spinal cord, stomach and intestine. Regular use can lead to drug tolerance or physical dependence. Chronic opium addicts in 1906 China[60] or modern-day Iran[141] consume an average of eight grams of opium daily.
Both analgesia and drug addiction are functions of the mu opioid receptor, the class of opioid receptor first identified as responsive to morphine. Tolerance is associated with the superactivation of the receptor, which may be affected by the degree of endocytosis caused by the opioidadministered, and leads to a superactivation of cyclic AMP signaling.[142] Long-term use of morphine in palliative care and the management of chronic pain always entails a risk that the patient develops tolerance or physical dependence. The are many kinds of rehabilitation treatment, including pharmacologically based treatments with naltrexone, methadone, or ibogaine.[143]
History[edit]
Use of the opium poppy predates written history. Images of opium poppies have been found in ancient Sumerian artifacts (circa 4000 BC). The making and use of opium was known to the ancient Minoans.[16] Its sap was later named opion by the ancient Greeks, from whence it gained its modern name of opium.
Opium was used for treating asthma, stomach illnesses, and bad eyesight.
The First and Second Opium Wars between China, and the British Empire and France, took place in the late 1830s through the early 1860s, when the Chinese attempted to stop western traders from selling and later smuggling opium into their country from the large crops grown in India. The British in particular had a deep trade deficit with China, and the sale of British-owned Indian opium helped balance it.
Many modern writers, particularly in the 19th century, have written on the opium poppy and its effects, notably Thomas de Quincey in Confessions of an English Opium Eater.
The French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz used opium for inspiration, subsequently producing his Symphonie Fantastique. In this work, a young artist overdoses on opium and experiences a series of visions of his unrequited love.
Opium poppies (flower and fruit) appear on the coat of arms of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Medicine[edit]
Australia (Tasmania), Turkey and India are the major producers of poppy for medicinal purposes and poppy-based drugs, such as morphine or codeine.[35] The USA has a policy of sourcing 80% of its narcotic raw materials from the traditional producers, India and Turkey.[36]
A recent initiative to extend opium production for medicinal purposes called Poppy for Medicine was launched by The Senlis Council which proposes that Afghanistan could produce medicinal opium under a scheme similar to that operating in Turkey and India.[37] The Council proposes licensing poppy production in Afghanistan, within an integrated control system supported by the Afghan government and its international allies, to promote economic growth in the country, create vital drugs and combat poverty and the diversion of illegal opium to drug traffickers and terrorist elements. Senlis is on record advocating reintroduction of poppy into areas of Afghanistan, specifically Kunduz, which has been poppy free for some time.
The Senlis proposal is based in part on the assertion that there is an acute global shortage of opium poppy–based medicines some of which (morphine) are on the World Health Organisation's list of essential drugs as they are the most effective way of relieving severe pain. This assertion is contradicted by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the "independent and quasi-judicial control organ monitoring the implementation of the United Nations drug control conventions". INCB reports that the supply of opiates is greatly in excess of demand.[38]
In March 2010, researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary published an article inNature Chemical Biology about their discovery of two enzymes and their encoding genes, thebaine 6-O-demethylase (T6ODM) and codeine O-demethylase (CODM), involved in morphine biosynthesis derived from the opium poppy.[39] The enzymes were identified as non-heme dioxygenases, and were isolated using functional genomics.[39] Codeine O-demethylase produces the enzyme that converts codeine into morphine.[40]
In late 2007, the British government permitted the pharmaceutical company Macfarlan Smith (a Johnson Matthey company, FTSE 100) to cultivate opium poppies in England for medicinal reasons[41] after Macfarlan Smith's primary source, India, decided to increase the price of export opium latex. This move is well received by British farmers,[citation needed] with a major opium poppy field based in Didcot, England. As of 2012, they were growing in Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire as a spring-sown breakcrop recognised under the single payment scheme farm subsidy.[42] The Office of Fair Trading has alerted the government to their monopoly position on growing in the UK and worldwide production ofdiamorphine and recommended consideration.[41] The government's response advocated the status quo, being concerned interference might cause the company to stop production.[43]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum
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