---

Opium

There were no legal restrictions on the importation or use of opium until the early 1900s. In the United States, the unrestricted availability of opium, the influx of opium-smoking immigrants from East Asia, and the invention of the hypodermic needle contributed to the more severe variety of compulsive drug abuse seen at the turn of the 20th century. In those days, medicines often contained opium without any warning label. Today, there are state, federal, and international laws governing the production and distribution of narcotic substances. Although opium is used in the form of paragoric to treat diarrhea, most opium imported into the United States is broken down into its alkaloid constituents. These alkaloids are divided into two distinct chemical classes, phenanthrenes and isoquinolines. The principal phenanthrenes are morphine, codeine, and thebaine, while the isoquinolines have no significant central nervous system effects and are not regulated under the CSA.

Source: DEA

The Opium poppy (papaver somniferum) is the key ingredient for all narcotics. Opium is the substance that is directly extracted from the Opium poppy. Opium grows in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and in the Western Hemisphere (Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia). Opium is converted into Heroin in laboratories in the countries where it is cultivated, and then consumed locally or shipped to consumer countries. It takes approximately ten kilograms of Opium to make one kilogram of Heroin.

Copyright 2009 Publishers Group, LLC - All Rights Reserved - Legal Disclaimer