Papaver somniferum is the only poppy plant which produces Opium. It came from an amazing Mediterranean wild strain named Papaver setigerum.
Opium is the stuff inside the poppy plants “seed pod”. Once you score it (slice it open with a knive) it will start to ooze out and when the liquid mixed with the oxygen in the air, it turns to a brownish hue. It is clear in color when it is inside its seed pod and is the magical analgesic liquid that contains morphine, codeine, noscapine, and papaverine. Thebaine is another compound found inside which has no analgesic effects. It is synthesized to make Vicodin and Oxydodone, NeoOxy and Percocet (Percodan), a pain killer without knocking you out or putting you under.
But nothing kills pain and lifts your spirits quite like a ball of raw opium. It contains many other compounds that affects the way Opium relieves pain. Many U.S. soldiers have been helped to treat pain after gun shot wounds in battle and have been treated by the local mountain tribes with raw opium, and they all state that it performs a better job in great measures compared to synthetically produced opiates they received at the hospital.
Yummy Opium Drink:
The juice of the white poppy mixed with the seed of nettle.
Opium Wine:
Take you favorite wine and add a few drops of laudanum (deodorized opium tincture)
Arab traders first brought the Opium Poppy to China, and then the Dutch from Java, where is was common to mix tobacco and opium together in a pipe. Opium Dens where places you could find all over China. A relaxing place to smoke your opium and tobacco combines and eventually many Chinese stop mixing it with tobacco and would smoke pure opium. The Chinese also gave it to people before undergoing surgery. It was documented they also gave Cannabis mixed with the opium as well.
Most of the Opium Poppy production in India was controlled by the British East India Company in the 1790’s. And by 1800 they controlled supply and pricing in the Asian Opium Trade.
Chinese recreational use of Opium got to the point where it was out of control and the Emperor of China banned the importation of Opium. The Queen Victoria was asked to help the problem, but she ignored his request because it was too profitable for Britain and so the First Opium War was started, mainly because the emperor took 22,000 barrels of the Queens opium and kidnapped her opium traders. The Queen was pissed and attacked the port city of Canton, the Queen kicking ass as usual, made the Chinese sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, stating the Queen could continue selling Opium. Not only this, but the Queen made the Chinese give Hong Kong to the British Empire.
In 1856 The Second Opium War broke out, but it was just about the Queen wanting to expand her markets, and the Chinese were again defeated and again, importation of Opium in China became law.
1805, a German isolated the principal alkaloid in opium, and created Morphene. He was so cool, he named it after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams.
Mr. BC SeedsMr. BC Seeds is an over educated old school hippy who has been involved in the cannabis industry since the 1970's. He is one of the most experienced marijuana breeders in Canada if not the entire world. He was the first to use the most advanced breeding techniques in 2008 to create 42 of the world's strongest cannabis strains. He has been writing in-depth articles about cannabis in Canada for decades and looks forward to continue bringing you cutting edge cannabis strains for the decades to come. Mr. BC Seeds uses a "pen name" because he still travels the world collecting cannabis strains and continues researching cannabis in laboratories of non-legalized countries.