Opium Poppy

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Papaver somniferum
Other Names : Papaver somniferum, Opium Poppy. Mawseed.

See also :

Special Precautions of Opium Poppy

  • This plant contains a number of very toxic compounds, many of which are extracted and used as pain killers etc in medicine. They are also used to make various highly addictive narcotic drugs. However, in the cooler climate of Britain these compounds are not formed in sufficient quantity to make their extraction worthwhile. There are no toxins in the seeds.
  • Opium is highly addictive and can be smoked or ingested orally. It causes feelings of euphoria, followed by relaxation and periods of intermittent sleep (“nodding off”). Opium is sometimes used in combination with other drugs, such as marijuana or methamphetamine.
  • Like other opioids, an overdose on opium can be fatal if not treated quickly. Recovering from an opium overdose may include seeking addiction treatment to avoid further overdoses and other serious health consequences.
  • Use of opium with other substances is another risk factor for overdose. In particular, use of opium with benzodiazepines or alcohol can put a user at increased risk for overdose
  • Opium is not very quickly absorbed. When a poisonous dose has been swallowed, the stomach should be emptied as soon as possible by the stomach pump and washed. In people who have overdosed on opioids, basic life support and naloxone are recommended as soon as possible. Naloxone is effective at reversing the cause, rather than just the symptoms, of an opioid overdose. Compared to adults, children often need larger doses of naloxone per kilogram of body weight.
  • The presence of starch, tannin, oxalic acid and fat, common constituents of most plants, indicates adulteration, as these substances do not occur normally in the drug. Powdered poppy capsules stones, small shot, pieces of lead, gum, grape must, sugary fruits, and other mechanical impurities, have also been used as adulterants of opium. The drug should not contain more than 12 1/2 per cent of moisture.

Health Benefits and Uses of Opium Poppy

  • Mainly Poppy Seeds are most used as edible part.(raw, cooked pr as oil). However, although the seeds contain no narcotic alkaloids, analysis of the urine following their ingestion may produce similar results to the analysis of the urine of morphine or heroin addicts
  • Edible young leaves - raw or cooked. They must be used before the flower buds have formed. In some countries they are eaten at the seedling stage. One report says that the leaves do not contain any narcotic principles.
  • The opium poppy contains a wide range of alkaloids and has been a very valuable medicine, especially useful in bringing relief from pain. Its use (especially of the extracted alkaloids opium and morphine which it contains) can become addictive, however, and so it should be treated with extreme caution and only be used under the supervision of a qualified practitioner.
  • The dried juice (latex) from the unripe green seed vessels is a rich source of the active alkaloids, including morphine. Opium is extracted from the poppy heads before they have ripened, and from Poppies grown in the East, those grown in Europe yielding but little of the drug. It is extracted by making shallow incisions in the capsules as soon as the petals have fallen. Care must be taken that the incisions do not penetrate to the interior of the seed capsules. The latex exudes from the capsules and dries in contact with the air - it is then scraped off.
    • Opium is one of the most valuable of drugs, Morphine and Codeine, the two principal alkaloids, being largely used in medicine.
    • This latex is anodyne, antitussive, astringent, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, hypnotic, narcotic and sedative.
    • As well as its pain-relieving properties, the latex has also been used as an antispasmodic and expectorant in treating certain kinds of coughs, whilst its astringent properties make it useful in the treatment of dysentery etc.
    • The drug was known in very remote times and the Greeks and Romans collected it. It is probable that the physicians of the Arabian school introduced the drug into India, as well as into Europe. It was originally used only as a medicine, the practice of opium eating having first arisen, probably in Persia.
    • It is unexcelled as a hypnotic and sedative, and is frequently administered to relieve pain and calm excitement. For its astringent properties, it is employed in diarrhoea and dysentery, and on account of its expectorant, diaphoretic, sedative and antispasmodic properties, in certain forms of cough, etc.
    • Small doses of opium and morphine are nerve stimulants. The Cutch horsemen share their opium with their jaded steeds, and increased capability of endurance is observed alike in man and beast.
    • Opium and morphine do not produce in animals the general calmative and hypnotic effects which characterize their use in man, but applied locally, they effectually allay pain and spasm. Owing to the greater excitant action in veterinary patients, the administration of opium does not blunt the perception of pain as effectually as it does in human patients.
    • A homeopathic remedy is made from the dried latex. This is used in the treatment of a variety of complaints, including constipation, fevers and insomnia. (See Papaver Somniferum (Homeopathy)).
  • Cancer : Papaver somniferum, also gives rise to a drug called noscapine, a promising cancer-fighting agent already used in some countries as a cough-suppressant. In 1998, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta first showed that noscapine could fight tumors. Since then, research on animals and human cancer cells has suggested that it can shrink breast and prostate cancers and possibly prevent metastasis, the spread of tumors throughout the body that tends to cause cancer death.

Constituents

The most important constituents of opium are the alkaloids, which constitute in good opium about one-fifth of the weight of the drug. No fewer than twenty-one have been reported.

  • The principal alkaloid, both as regards its medicinal importance, and the quantity in which it exists, is Morphine. Next to this, Narcotine and Codeine are of secondary importance. Among the numerous remaining alkaloids, amounting in all to about 1 per cent of the drug, are Thebaine, Narceine, Papaverine, Codamine and Rhoeadine.
  • Meconic acid exists to the extent of about 5 per cent combined with morphine. This acid is easily identified, and is important in toxicological investigation, as corroborative of the presence of opium.
  • Meconin and meconiasin exist in small quantity only. Mucilage, sugar, wax, caoutchouc and salts of calcium, and magnesium are also contained in opium, and sulphuric acid is found in the ash.

Used in Patent medicine

Sharbat Sadar

References

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