Opium Poppy Agriculture and Consumption

Psychoactive Plants: Opium Poppy, Marijuana, and Cocaine

AFLP Analysis of Opium Poppy

There are several different DNA analysis procedures that have been used to identify and characterize plant Amplified restriction fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) DNA cultivars to determine genetic diversity. Each procedure analysis was performed on leaf samples of 40 accessions of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) and two other control genera (Pahas it own requirements, sensitivity, and rel...

History of the Opium Habit, and Opium-Poppy Culture

Secrets of the opium poppy revealed.

Studies concerning drugs of abuse have made major contributions in defining the circuitry, as well as cellular and molecular substrates that underlie certain behaviors. Opiate drugs for example, have revealed important insights concerning pain perception and reward. Up to the late 1960s, opiate drugs were suspected to work by mysteriously perturbing lipid membrane structure. We now know the fol...

Poppy and Opium in Ancient Times: Remedy or Narcotic?

Ancient Egyptian and Greek pharmacopoeias reveal frequent use of different drugs, somniferous or narcotic, which contain poisonous elements. Among the toxic plants enumerated by Dioscorides, we find poppy and others. Egyptians were fond of taking these narcotic or euphoric substances attributed to nepenthes, but it is difficult to prove whether ancient people were aware of modern aspects of add...