Opium information

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The Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), is where the drug Opium is gotten, its extracted seed pods of this plant(1).

Either Asia Minor or the adjacent Balkans is the region where the poppy was first domesticated, maybe as early as the fourth millennium B.C. The Sumerians who grew it around 3400 B.C. and called it the "Joy plant" (2).

Opium has been used medically since ancient times. Europeans used it as a narcotic as early as 4000 B.C. The Muslims brought Opium to India from there its use spread to China(3).

Physical suffering, as far back as Hippocrates was relieved by Opium (4 ).

Greek physicians either ground the whole plant or used an opium extract for medical purposes. A demonstration Opium's medical utility is shown by the Greek gods of sleep Hypnos and Somnos, they are shown in illustrations either wearing of carrying poppies(5 ).

The Romans used opium medically as tinctures, tablets, poultices and lozenges(6). The Romans also used opium to poison their enemies or commit suicide. Hannibal (247 BC - 183BC) had a hollow ring that contained opium,it use was to commit suicide(7 ).

Roman writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25 BC-50 A.D.) recommended Opium as a painkiller (8 ).

Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (2 A.D.- unknown) used Opium to treat people afflicted with "feverish delirium" (9 ).

During the Roman Empire Arab traders came to know of the drug Opium and they brought it back to Persia. They also brought opium to India, China and other places around the eighth century A.D. (10 ).

Arab physician Avicenna (980-1037 A.D.) recommended Opium for pain relief and as a cure for eye disease(11 ).

Greek physician Galen (129-199AD) recommended opium and other drugs for anesthesia(12 ).

Sixteenth century physician Paracelsus invented laudanum, an opium based drug to treat a variety of disorders. It wasn't thought to be addictive then, but numerous artistic and literary figures are now known to be addicted, among them are Coleridge, Poe, Moussorgsky, and De Quincey (13).

The Dutch rule the Opium trade. Portuguese and Dutch traders regularly shipped Opium to Macau, Canton, Java and the Spice Islands. But soon the British would take command of the Opium trade (14 ).

The British founded the East India Company on New Years Eve in the 1600 (15 ). Queen Elizabeth formed the East India Company (1600-1874) to fight the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade in the East Indies(16 ).

Toward the end of the Ming dynasty The East India Company was the first company to import opium to China. This concerned the Ming dynasty (17 ).