A History of Opium
No one knows exactly when opium was discovered. Early evidence of its consumption was found in a Neolithic burial site near Barcelona, where it appears it was used for its narcotic and analgesic effects. The ancient Greeks, who held the opium poppy sacred, claimed it was Demeter who discovered it, with figurines of Poppy goddesses found in Gazi, Crete. Lucy Inglis shows us how widespread its use was in all its forms, from poppy seeds to morphine and heroin.
We do not just learn about opium, however; Inglis’ book informs us about immigration, disease, trade, missionaries, racism, Opium Wars, the Gin Craze, addiction and the multifarious subjects which contribute to its history. Even the Crusades and Marco Polo get a mention. This highly informative exploration of the history of opium (and the world, it would seem) sweeps from the prehistoric to modern recreational use.
THE WAR OF OPIUM
New medical uses of opium were found by various Arab scholars who contributed to developments in anaesthesia, analgesia, pharmacology and surgery. In Baghdad, opium was being used in pills and as an ointment to treat diseases, including leprosy. The Basra physician al-Kindi drew up a valuable list of the correct amount of medicinal opium to administer, while the better-known al-Razi was possibly the first physician to use opium as a general anaesthetic. By the Age of Discovery, the plague had killed millions of people in Europe and opium was reintroduced as a method to protect and treat wealthy patients. Recreational use of the drug was taken up enthusiastically by the citizens of the Persian Empire during the late medieval period. Rulers of the Mughal Empire formed opium habits by eating it; Emperor Jahangir was so inebriated on the drug and wine it left him incapable of ruling. His wife had to fill his role. In Turkey, its use was so widespread, it was said: ‘There is no Turk who would not buy opium with his last penny.’
In 1676, physician Thomas Sydenham made perhaps the biggest impact on society by publishing his recipe for laudanum, sharing his discovery worldwide. As Inglis points out, ‘Opium, through the old manuals, apothecary shops, and increasingly through laudanum, paregoric and Dover’s powder, had found itself a place in almost every home.’ It was so well-liked that it was used for ailments until after the Second World War.
The side-effects of laudanum were expanded upon by surgeon George Young, who wrote in 1753: ‘Everybody knows a large dose of laudanum will kill, so need not be cautioned on that head; but there are few who consider it a slow poison, though it certainly is.’ Its addictive qualities were noticed particularly in women, who, according to French doctor J. Hector St John de Crèvecœur, were ‘taking a dose of opium every morning, and so deep-rooted is it that they would be at a loss how to live without this indulgence’.
OUR WORK IN NUMBERS
The major legal opium poppy growing areas in the world today are ingovemment-regulated opium farms in India, Turkey and Tasmania, Australia. The major illegal growing areas are in the highlands of mainland Southeast Asia, specifically Burma, Laos and Thailand (the Golden Triangle), as well as adjacent areas of southern China and northwestern Vietnam (see Figure 2 and Map 1); in Southwest Asia, specifically Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and in Mexico. Opium poppy is also grown in Lebanon, Guatemala, and Colombia
Opium poppies were widely grown as anomamental plant and for seeds in the United States until the possession of this plant was declared illegal in the
Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942.
The highlands of mainland Southeast Asia, at elevations of 800 meters or more above sea level, are prime poppy growing areas. Generally speaking,
these poppy-farming areas do not require irrigation, fertilizer, or insecticides for successful opium yields. Most of the opium poppies of Southeast Asia are grown in Burma (Myanmar), specifically in the Wa and Kokang areas which are in the northeastern quadrant of the Shan State of Burma.
Laos is the second-largest illicit opium-producing country in Southeast Asia and third-largest in the world. In this country, poppy is cultivated extensively in Houaphan and Xiangkhoang Provinces, in addition to the six northern provinces of Bokeo, Louangnamtha, Louangpnabang, Oudomxai, Phongsali and Xaignabouli. Poppy is also grown in many of the remote, mountainous areas of northern Thailand, particularly in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan and Tak Provinces.
Adipiscing egestas curabitur
Adipiscing egestas curabitur
A heroin epidemic hit Chicago in the late 1940s, mainly affecting poor black communities. Writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and others of the Beat Generation experimented with it; the most notorious anecdote relates to a drug-induced William S. Burroughs accidentally shooting – and killing – his wife in a game of William Tell. He became addicted, but his drug-fuelled novels Junkie (1953) and The Naked Lunch (1959) became classics.
Tracking any subject matter throughout such a broad timespan is difficult. Yet Inglis has graced her pages with tales and medical snippets to provide enough information to feed a small library. This must be opium’s definitive history.
The opium poppy plant can be grown in a variety of soils-clay, sandy loam, sandy, and sandy clay-but it grows best in a sandy loam soil. This type of soil has good moisture-retentive and nutrient-retentive properties, is easily cultivated and has a favorable structure for root development. Clay soil types are hard and difficult to pulverize into a good soil texture. The roots of a young poppy plant cannot readily penetrate clay soils, and growth is inhibited. Sandy soil, by contrast, does not retain sufficient water or nutrients for proper growth of the plant.
Excessive moisture or extremely arid conditions will adversely affect the poppy plant's growth, thus reducingthe alkaloid content Poppy plants can become waterlogged and die after a heavy rainfall in poorly drained soil. Heavy rainfall in tlle second and third months of growth can leach alkaloids from the plant and spoil the harvest. Dull, rainy, or cloudy weather during this growth stage may reduce both the quantity and the quality of the alkaloid content.
In China, opium poppies are cultivated by ethnic minority groups in the mountainous frontier regions of Yunnan Province, particularly along the border area with Burma's Kachin and Shan States. Son La Province, situated between China and Laos, is a major opium poppy cultivation area in Vietnam. It is noteworthy that the dominant ethnic groups of mainland Southeast Asia are Tlot poppy cultivators.
The Burmans and Shan of Burma, the Lao of Laos, the Thai of Thailand, the Han Chinese of Yunnan, China, and the Vietnamese of Vietnam are low landers and do not traditionally cultivate opium poppies. Rather, it is the ethnic minority highlander groups, such as the Wa, Pa-O, Palaung, Lahu, Lisu, Hmong, and Akha who grow poppies in the highlands of the countries of Southeast Asia
