OPIUM

Opium. Fortunes have been won and lost for it. Dynasties have-come and gone in its wake, and a three-year war was waged in its name, leaving thousands of casualties and half of China's adult male population addicted by 1900.

The opium poppy is the source of the various opiates traded by pharmacists and "French connections" alike--heroin, morphine, opium, codeine, Demerol, Percodan, and laudanum, the elixir of many a nineteenth-century proper Bostonian matron. These poppy derivatives share a common black thread; all can be addictive. This is the chief drawback of the opiates, but the word "drawback" hardly describes what, addiction is like.

Addiction is anything but pleasant. In time, the addict builds up a tolerance to his opiate. No longer getting high or euphoric, he needs larger and larger doses just to feel "nor mal." If the addict does not get his dose he feels abnormal in the extreme, faced with a withdrawal period of one to ten days that, can include such horrors as chills, tremors, diarrhea, weeping, heavy sweating, nausea, vomiting, muscular and abdominal cramps, uncontrollable yawning, runny nose, goose flesh, appetite loss, and insomnia. Some of these symptoms may continue for months, and even then the addict is not off the hook. Researchers now believe that opiates cause permanent biochemical molecular changes, leaving the addict prone to readdiction years after withdrawal. This phenomenon, known as the post-abstinence syndrome, may account for the overwhelming recidivism rate among "ex addicts." It also explodes the myth that moral guidance and personal willpower can "cure" an addict forever. This is one monkey that keeps crawling on the victim's back and hanging on with claws of steel.

Opium, the granddaddy of opiates, is just as addicting is heroin, its sinister sister. The drug is made by opening the opium poppy's unripe seed pods or capsules and drying the milky white juice until it turns brown. The resulting brown goo is then scraped, boiled, collected into balls or bricks, wrapped, and sold as opium, or sent to processors who convert it to morphine, heroin, codeine, or other opiates. Grown in Southeast Asia, Turkey, China, Mexico, Lebanon, Greece, Iran, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, its potency depends upon freshness, country of origin, processing, and adulteration. Opium's painkilling properties come from its many alkaloids, the alkaloid morphine provides its pleasurable punch. For thousands of years, the drug has been used as a painkilling sedative or tranquilizer-type remedy for ailments such as dysentery, diarrhea, gout, diabetes, tetanus, insanity, and even nymphomania. During the nineteenth century, the Age of Opium, it was proposed as a cure for alcoholism. Chronic tipplers were weaned from alcohol to opium, unaware of the dangers of the "cure."

Opium usually comes in a bitter-tasting brown or black gummy bar. It can also be reduced to an opiate powder, sold in capsule or tablet form. A user does not really smoke opium, but rather heats it indirectly, inhaling its white or yellow vapors. Most neophytes make the mistake of directly lighting the drug in a pipe, mixed with marijuana or hashish. Direct flame destroys opium's magical properties and its pleasurable effect. Inhaled properly, its creeping suffusion of peace begins immediately. It can also be dissolved under the tongue or brewed as a tea. Using these methods, its effects will not be felt for thirty minutes to an hour. Eating opium may cause nausea or irritate the stomach lining. Nonaddicts sometimes apply liquid paregoric, a combination of opium and camphor, to cigarettes. Heroin addicts may use paregoric or laudanum, an opium tincture with alcohol, in times of heroin shortage. A less popular method of ingestion is the use of opium as a rectal suppository. Injection is risky, since opium is rarely free of impurities. The use of homemade or shared syringes further subjects the needle freak to possible hepatitis, abscess, infection, tetanus, and gangrene.

Opium is not the American addict's drug of choice, since it does not provide the warm, orgasmic rush of an injectable narcotic but don't count it out in the pleasure department. A moderate dose eases one into the tranquil joy of sensuous fantasy and intoxicating dreams. Detached and apathetic to life's stress and anxiety for three to four hours, the user's judgment and coordination are not impaired. The novice often suffers from nausea, vomiting, anxiety, dizziness, or shortness pf breath. while the regular user ignores these symptoms, getting  lost in a serenely pleasurable haze. The user is passive and nonviolent. His limbs become heavy, his mind lethargic, and aggression and hunger- drives are reduced. These effects are considered medically innocuous, and opium caws no long term organic damage.

Large doses induce nothing more serious than slow breathing, low blood pressure, and sleep. But opium is addicting, and the horrors of addiction cannot be overemphasized. Inhaling moderate amounts of opium on a sporadic basis is unlikely to cause addiction, but every individual has a different "break point," where blissful dreaminess turns into painful disaster. Once the user is addicted, those days of sweet stupor are replaced by a feeling of nothingness. The addict no longer gets high, but simply feeds his habit to keep away the crushing pain of withdrawal.

Needing larger and larger doses just to feel normal, an addict can can die from the. effects of withdrawal if opium use is discontinued. Accidental overdose can occur when dosage reaches soaring heights, or if the drug is mixed with' alcohol or barbiturates. Overdose " symptoms may include slow breathing, nausea, vomiting, constricted pupils, moist, cold bluish skin, and uncontrollable drowsiness. Drowsiness can turn into coma and respiratory failure, resulting in death. The overdosed addict should be forced to stay awake and rushed to hospital, where narcotics antagonists such as Nalline (nalorphine) can reverse opium's depressant effects and bring on withdrawal. Until professional help arrives, mix 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts in two glasses of water and feed to the victim. As an alternative, 2 tablespoons of powdered chat canal or powdered burnt toast may be mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk of magnesia in 4 tablespoons of strong tea. Do not rely on the curative powers of these potions, since complications may set in. Hospital facilities are definitely preferred.

Unlicensed possession, manufacture, and sale of opium are illegal under Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. Until 1914, the drug was not only unrestricted, but was actually dispensed in thousands of over-the-counter patent medicines, distributed by mail order, and sold in grocery stores and pharmacies. It was particularly promoted to ease infants' teething, suppress coughs (see Codeine), alleviate menstrual cramps, and eliminate all manner of aches and pains. Opiate, cough syrups and laudanum, originally sold for medicinal 'purposes, became pain relievers of- mother sort. What started by prescription was continued for pleasure, with the excuse of rheumatism or headache providing the proper nineteenth-century "cover" for getting high. Many addicts were women and children whose maladies had been treated with opium.

Opium's previous widespread medicinal application and promotion are easily understood. In fact, the drug is an effective painkiller, allaying fear and anxiety. In India and Iran, opium was a standard folk remedy for stomach and respiratory ailments, while in Great Britain, laudanum was given to children to keep them quiet. From Homer to Sherlock Holmes, opium use has spanned the ages.

Chinese immigrants, brought to America to build railroads, brought Asian-produced opium with them. Before long, the medical community recognized its value. Opium, and its hundreds of derivatives and preparations, became. staples in everyone's medicine chest. Those who used it for pleasure frequented opium dens in major cities. Addicts and fun seekers were often admired citizens, maintaining their families, jobs, and self-respect. Although addiction was not considered moral or respectable, it was accepted, much like gambling or dancing. Addicts were not seen as weak-willed parasites until opiate. importation was made illegal around-the turn of the century, forcing them to prey on society to meet the inflated cost of illicit drugs. Initially, opium was taxed, then licensed, then discouraged, and ultimately made illegal for most uses under the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.

Opium laws, invention of the syringe in 1830, and the discovery of synthetic heroin in 1897 caused heroin and morphine to become overwhelming drug favorites for both medical and recreational use. Doctors administered heroin and -morphine because dosage was more predictable and injection more controllable. Pleasure seekers discovered the orgasmic rush that only an injectable narcotic can provide. The syringe became the trademark of heroin and morphine addiction.

Recreationally, opium has now been relegated to the back drawer of soft-drug dealers, who sometimes sell it to marijuana and hashish users as a special "treat." The varieties of opium available in the United States are generally not of sufficient potency to addict anyone. On today's American drug-abuse scene, it is considered no more than an exotic curiosity to be tried and forgotten.

As with any other narcotic, its seductive pleasures should be carefully and seriously weighed against its potential for addiction.