Opium: What You Should Know

Opium is one of the narcotic drugs that affects the central nervous system. Opium, is obtained from the unripe seedpods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), a plant of the family Papaveraceae. The slit seedpods exude a milky latex that coagulates and changes colour, turning into a gum like brown mass upon exposure to air. This raw opium may be ground into a powder, sold as lumps, cakes, or bricks, or treated further to obtain derivatives such as morphine, codeine, and heroin. Opium and the drugs obtained from it are called opiates. 
There are many varieties of this poppy species. Colors of the flower vary widely, as do other physical characteristics (number and shape of petals, number of pods, production of morphine, etc.). 
The seeds of the poppy are widely used as the popular "poppy-seed" found in and on many food items such as bagels, muffins and cakes. The seeds can be pressed to form poppy seed oil, which can be used in cooking.

A brief History

Opium has been actively collected since prehistoric times, since approximately 3400 BCE. The Mediterranean region contains the earliest archeological evidence of human use; the oldest known seeds date back to more than 5000 BCE in the Neolithic age with purposes such as food, anaesthetics, and ritual. Evidence from ancient Greece indicates that opium was consumed in several ways, including inhalation of vapors, suppositories, medical poultices, and as a combination with hemlock for suicide. 
At least 17 finds of Papaver somniferum from Neolithic settlements have been reported throughout Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, including the placement of large numbers of poppy seed capsules at a burial site (the Cueva de los Murciélagos, or "Bat Cave", in Spain), which have been carbon-14 dated to 4200 BCE. 
The Egyptians cultivated opium thebaicum in famous poppy fields around 1300 BCE. Opium was traded from Egypt by the Phoenicians and Minoans to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece, Carthage, and Europe. 
Opium was used with poison hemlock to put people quickly and painlessly to death, but it was also used in medicine.

Methods of Use

The generally known method of taking opium is by smoking or inhalation.

Production

In the commercial (legal) product of opium, large fields of poppies are carefully grown in undisclosed locations. The raw opium is harvested using the "poppy straw" method (When ready for harvest, the skin of the ripening pods of these poppies is scored by a sharp blade at a time carefully chosen so that rain, wind, and dew cannot spoil the exudation of white, milky latex, usually in the afternoon.). When the flowers gave gone to seed, combines cut the dried seed stalks containing alkaloid-rich, seed-bearing capsules. The seeds are removed for the culinary market. Raw opium is chemically extracted from the ground up capsules.

Physiological actions of opiate

Opiates (e.g., morphine, codeine, and thebaine) contains two main groups of alkaloids. Phenanthrenes such as morphine, codeine, and thebaine are the main psychoactive constituents. That's it exert their main effects on the brain and spinal cord. Their principal action is to relieve or suppress pain. Most of the harmful effects of opium such as, lung edema, respiratory difficulties, coma, or cardiac or respiratory collapse are cause by it morphine constituent. 

The drugs also alleviate anxiety; induce relaxation, drowsiness, and sedation; and may impart a state of euphoria or other enhanced mood. Opiates also have important physiological effects: they slow respiration and heartbeat, suppress the cough reflex, and relax the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract. 

Conclusion

Just like heroin, morphine and others, can easily be addictive. should encase one becomes addictive to opium, it important he/she seek for professional help in other to manage the addiction.