Opium

Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. Opium's main psychoactive alkaloids, primarily morphine, act on μ-opioid receptors, causing analgesia, with long-term use leading to tolerance and dependence. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analg

species of plant

opium-producing region in northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos

1912 document which became the first international drug control treaty

mountainous region in Asia in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan that is a centre of opium production

Karl Marx's description of religion: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”