Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is derived from the morphine alkaloid found in opium and is roughly 2 to 3 times more potent. A highly addictive drug, heroin exhibits euphoric ("rush"), anxiolytic and analgesic central nervous system properties. Fueled in part by the 1729 ban on madak, which at first effectively exempted pure opium as a potentially medicinal product, the smoking of pure opium became more popular in the 18th century. In 1736, the smoking of pure opium was described by Huang Shujing, involving a pipe made from bamboo rimmed with silver, stuffed with palm slices and hair, fed by a clay bowl in which a globule of molten opium was held over the flame of an oil lamp. This elaborate procedure, requiring the maintenance of pots of opium at just the right temperature for a globule to be scooped up with a needle-like skewer for smoking, formed the basis of a craft of "paste-scooping" by which servant girls could become prostitutes as the opportunity arose. [47] Chinese diaspora in the West [ edit ] Pure heroin is a white powder that tastes bitter. Because heroin abusers do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death. Ladenburg, Thomas (1974). "Chapter 1, The French in Indochina" (PDF). University of Houston. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 1, 2023 . Retrieved March 21, 2023. Ms Louise Foxcroft (June 28, 2013). The Making of Addiction: The 'Use and Abuse' of Opium in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp.66–. ISBN 978-1-4094-7984-0.

Description of the Culture of the White Poppy and Preparation of Opium, as Practised in the Province of Bahar". The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. Vol.3. Wm. H. Allen & Company. 1817 . Retrieved May 31, 2022. Opiates". Homehealth-uk.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2011 . Retrieved October 7, 2011. W. R. Martin & H. F. Fraser (September 1, 1961). "A comparative study of subjective and physiological effects of heroin and morphine administered intravenously in postaddicts". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 133 (3): 388–399. PMID 13767429 . Retrieved June 6, 2007.

What is Opium?

During the Communist era in Eastern Europe, poppy stalks sold in bundles by farmers were processed by users with household chemicals to make kompot (" Polish heroin"), and poppy seeds were used to produce koknar, an opiate. [99] Obsolescence [ edit ] Apothecary vessel for storage of opium as a pharmaceutical, Germany, 18th or 19th century a b c Yangwen Zheng (2003). "The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999". Modern Asian Studies. 37 (1): 1–39. doi: 10.1017/S0026749X0300101X. S2CID 146582691. The Chinese Diaspora in the West (1800s to 1949) first began to flourish during the 19th century due to famine and political upheaval, as well as rumors of wealth to be had outside of Southeast Asia. Chinese emigrants to cities such as San Francisco, London, and New York City brought with them the Chinese manner of opium smoking, and the social traditions of the opium den. [50] [51] The Indian Diaspora distributed opium-eaters in the same way, and both social groups survived as " lascars" (seamen) and " coolies" (manual laborers). French sailors provided another major group of opium smokers, having gotten the habit while in French Indochina, where the drug was promoted and monopolized by the colonial government as a source of revenue. [52] [53] Among white Europeans, opium was more frequently consumed as laudanum or in patent medicines. Britain's All-India Opium Act of 1878 formalized ethnic restrictions on the use of opium, limiting recreational opium sales to registered Indian opium-eaters and Chinese opium-smokers only and prohibiting its sale to workers from Burma. [54] Likewise, in San Francisco, Chinese immigrants were permitted to smoke opium, so long as they refrained from doing so in the presence of whites. [50] Hideyuki Takano; The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom (2002, Kotan, ISBN 0-9701716-1-7)

Opium – Poppy Cultivation, Morphine and Heroin Manufacture". Erowid.org . Retrieved January 25, 2017. Benjamin Pui-Nin Mo & E. Leong Way (October 1, 1966). "An Assessment Of Inhalation As A Mode Of Administration Of Heroin By Addicts". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 154 (1): 142–151. PMID 5924312 . Retrieved June 6, 2007. Smith RD (October 1980). "Avicenna and the Canon of Medicine: a millennial tribute". The Western Journal of Medicine. 133 (4): 367–70. PMC 1272342. PMID 7051568. Opium dens were places where opium could be bought and sold, and were also found worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia, China and Europe. Before the 1920s, regulation in Britain was controlled by pharmacists. Pharmacists who were found to have prescribed opium for illegitimate uses and anyone found to have sold opium without proper qualifications would be prosecuted. [94] With the passing of the Rolleston Act in Britain in 1926, doctors were allowed to prescribe opiates such as morphine and heroin if they believed their patients demonstrated a medical need. Because addiction was viewed as a medical problem rather than an indulgence, doctors were permitted to allow patients to wean themselves off opiates rather than cutting off any opiate use altogether. [95] The passing of the Rolleston Act put the control of opium use in the hands of medical doctors instead of pharmacists. Later in the 20th century, addiction to opiates, especially heroin in young people, continued to rise and so the sale and prescription of opiates was limited to doctors in treatment centers. If these doctors were found to be prescribing opiates without just cause, then they could lose their license to practice or prescribe drugs. [95]a b c d e Alfred W. McCoy. "Opium History, 1858 to 1940". Archived from the original on April 4, 2007 . Retrieved May 4, 2007. S. Mercadante (1998). "Oral morphine consumption in Italy and Sicily". Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 15 (4): 227–30. doi: 10.1016/S0885-3924(98)00368-6. PMID 9601157. Karl A. Sporer, M.D. (April 6, 1999). "Acute Heroin Overdose". Annals of Internal Medicine. 130 (7): 584–590. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-130-7-199904060-00019. PMID 10189329. S2CID 22949289. a b c d e Brown Richard Harvey (2002). "The Opium Trade And Opium Policies In India, China, Britain, And The United States: Historical Comparisons And Theoretical Interpretations". Asian Journal of Social Science. 30 (3): 623. doi: 10.1163/156853102320945420. Manuscripts of Pseudo-Apuleius's 5th-century work from the 10th and 11th centuries refer to the use of wild poppy Papaver agreste or Papaver rhoeas (identified as P. silvaticum) instead of P. somniferum for inducing sleep and relieving pain. [27]