Posts Tagged ‘Opium’

Heroin Addiction: A History of Opium and Heroin Addiction in the United States Documentary (1972)

thefilmarchive.org Opium (poppy tears, lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine. The traditional method of obtaining the latex is to scratch (“score”) the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off the fruit. The modern method is to harvest and process mature plants by machine. “Meconium” historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the poppy or different species of poppies. The production of opium itself has basically not changed since ancient times. However, through selective breeding of the Papaver somniferum plant, the content of the phenanthrene alkaloids morphine, codeine, and to a lesser extent thebaine, has been greatly increased. In modern times, much of the thebaine, which often serves as the raw material for the synthesis for hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and other semi-synthetic opiates, originates from extracting Papaver orientale or Papaver bracteatum. Opium for illegal use is often converted into heroin, which is less bulky, making it easier to smuggle, and which multiplies its potency to approximately twice that of morphine. Heroin can be taken by intravenous …
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Heroin Addiction in the News

Heroin Addiction: Afghan opium output hit by disease, Myanmar’s up: U.N.
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Global production of opium fell 38 percent in 2010 as plant disease hit crops in top producer Afghanistan, but output in number two producer Myanmar rose sharply, the United Nations said Thursday.
Read more on Reuters via Yahoo! Canada News

Heroin Addiction: Painkillers Are A Gateway To Heroin
This past winter, I found myself following a drug dealer and his crew up the dark stairway of a triple-decker apartment building on the outskirts of Boston. Reaching a unit on the top floor, the young man pulled a gun from his waistband.
Read more on WGAL 8 Susquehanna Valley

Heroin Addiction: Heroin: What Have We Learned From The Movies?

Running through a number of heroin/drug-related lines from the movies.

More Heroin Addiction Information…

If we search opium addiction facts and its history, we can see that it has been a problem since the 1850s when morphine emerged as a non addictive substitute. With the outcome of morphine, it came to be a bigger problem than opium. Addicts crave for rawer and strong narcotic was solved by heroin, another opium derivative. With the practice of taking opium or its derivatives, the possible cure was invented and it took the name of methadone. But methadone, later also proved to be more addictive and fairly dealing with the life threatening withdrawal. By the end of 1990s, the mortality rate from opium derivatives was estimated and it increased up to 20 times larger than the general population.    Read more...

Can you find a single person who hasn’t heard of opium? Literally there is not a single such person who has not heard of Opium, its use and effects. Previously it was used as painkiller, but gradually its mode of use changed. It was used as strong addiction drug for a long period of time until it was banned by many countries. Now, its derivative opiate is used to make painkillers. Opiates are not as strong as the original opium, but its effects are quiet similar to that of opium. It affects a certain region of human brain which controls the feeling of pleasure.    Read more...

Drug addiction is one of the main problems that younger people are facing. The whole world today is disturbed with the problem of drug addiction. Though there is no age limit when you are going to fall prey to drug addiction it is really becoming a serious problem day by day. The problem is so big that it is not possible for any government to have a complete check on this matter unless each and every individual is concerned and puts forth a strong blockade on it. However, several steps have been taken to put a check on this evil of the society but it is of very little of use when the individual involved in this drug addiction does not respond as expected.    Read more...