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.
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