Editing Opium (section)

== Modern production and use ==
{{Update|section|date=October 2022}}
[[File:Opium (Drug).jpg|thumb|Dried latex from opium poppy]]
Opium was [[drug prohibition|prohibited]] in many countries during the early 20th century, leading to the modern pattern of opium production as a precursor for illegal [[recreational drug]]s or tightly regulated, highly taxed, legal prescription drugs. In 1980, 2,000 tons of opium supplied all legal and illegal uses.<ref name="Trocki">{{cite web|url=http://www.humanities.qut.edu.au/research/socialchange/docs/conf_papers2002/TrockiCarl.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720075013/http://www.humanities.qut.edu.au/research/socialchange/docs/conf_papers2002/TrockiCarl.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 20, 2008|author=Carl A. Trocki|title=Opium as a commodity and the Chinese drug plague|year=2002|access-date=September 13, 2009|author-link=Carl A. Trocki}}</ref> Worldwide production in 2006 was 6610 tonnes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007_1.2_opium_heroin.pdf |title=0.0_Front Matters_05-31-07.qxd |access-date=March 21, 2010}}</ref>—about one-fifth the level of production in 1906; since then, opium production has fallen.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In 2002, the price for one kilogram of opium was {{US$|300}} for the farmer, {{US$|800}} for purchasers in [[Afghanistan]], and {{US$|16,000}} on the streets of Europe before conversion into heroin.<ref name="2002abc">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1379788.htm|title=Afghanistan: America's blind eye|author=Mark Corcoran|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=May 11, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011161900/http://abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1379788.htm|archive-date=October 11, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Opium production increased considerably, surpassing 5,000 tons in 2002 and reaching 8,600 tons in Afghanistan and 840 tons in the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-poppy-farmers-seeds-boost-opium-output-060423845--finance.html|title=Afghan poppy farmers say new seeds will boost opium output|work=yahoo.com|access-date=April 4, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2014/December/opium-production-in-the-golden-triangle-continues-at-high-levels--threatening-regional-integration.html|title=Opium production in the Golden Triangle continues at high levels, threatening regional integration|work=unodc.org|access-date=April 4, 2016}}</ref> The [[World Health Organization]] has estimated that current production of opium would need to increase fivefold to account for total global medical need.<ref name="Rewriting history" /> Solar energy panels in use in Afghanistan have allowed farmers to dig their wells deeper, leading to a bumper crop of opium year after year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.greenprophet.com/2022/06/solar-panels-opium-afghanistan/|title=Solar panels driving opium trade in Afghanistan|website= Greenprophet.com|first=Karin|last=Kloosterman|date=June 2, 2022|access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref> In a 2023 report, poppy cultivation in southern Afghanistan was reduced by over 80% as a result of Taliban campaigns to stop its use toward opium. This included a 99% reduction of opium growth in the [[Helmand Province]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 June 2023 |title=Poppy Cultivation in South of Afghanistan Down by 80%: Report |pages=1 |work=ToloNews |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-183684 |access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref> In November 2023, a U.N report showed that in the entirety of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation dropped by over 95%, removing it from its place as being the world's largest opium producer.<ref name="aljazeera.com">{{Cite web |title=Afghan opium poppy cultivation plunges by 95 percent under Taliban: UN |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/5/afghan-opium-poppy-cultivation-plunges-by-95-percent-under-taliban-un |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref name="news.un.org">{{Cite web |date=2023-11-05 |title=Opium cultivation declines by 95 per cent in Afghanistan: UN survey {{!}} UN News |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143232 |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=news.un.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== ''Papaver somniferum'' ===
{{Main|Papaver somniferum}}
Opium poppies are popular and attractive garden plants, whose flowers vary greatly in color, size and form. A modest amount of domestic cultivation in private gardens is not usually subject to legal controls.{{clarify|date=December 2023}} In part, this tolerance reflects variation in addictive potency. A cultivar for opium production, ''Papaver somniferum L. elite'', contains 91.2 percent morphine, codeine, and thebaine in its latex alkaloids, whereas in the latex of the condiment cultivar "Marianne", these three alkaloids total only 14.0 percent. The remaining alkaloids in the latter cultivar are primarily [[narcotoline]] and [[noscapine]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Frick S, Kramell R, Schmidt J, Fist AJ, Kutchan TM |title=Comparative qualitative and quantitative determination of alkaloids in narcotic and condiment Papaver somniferum cultivars|journal=Journal of Natural Products|date=May 2005|volume=68|issue=5|pages=666–73|pmid=15921406|doi=10.1021/np0496643}}</ref>

Seed capsules can be dried and used for decorations, but they also contain morphine, codeine, and other alkaloids. These pods can be boiled in water to produce a bitter [[Poppy tea|tea]] that induces a long-lasting intoxication. If allowed to mature, poppy pods ([[poppy straw]]) can be crushed and used to produce lower quantities of [[morphinans]]. In poppies subjected to mutagenesis and selection on a mass scale, researchers have been able to use poppy straw to obtain large quantities of [[oripavine]], a precursor to [[opioids]] and antagonists such as [[naltrexone]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patentlens.com/patentlens/patsearch.cgi?patnum=US+6723894|archive-date=September 5, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905182450/http://www.patentlens.com/patentlens/patsearch.cgi?patnum=US+6723894%23show|url-status=dead|title=Production of thebaine and oripavine|date=April 20, 2004|access-date=May 10, 2007}}</ref> Although millennia older, the production of poppy head decoctions can be seen as a quick-and-dirty variant of the Kábáy poppy straw process, which since its publication in 1930 has become the major method of obtaining licit opium alkaloids worldwide, as discussed in [[Morphine]].

[[Poppy seed]]s are a common and flavorsome topping for breads and cakes. One gram of poppy seeds contains up to 33 micrograms of morphine and 14 micrograms of codeine, and the [[Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration]] in the [[United States]] formerly mandated that all drug screening laboratories use a standard cutoff of 300 nanograms per milliliter in urine samples. A single poppy seed roll (0.76&nbsp;grams of seeds) usually did not produce a positive [[drug test]], but a positive result was observed from eating two rolls. A slice of poppy seed cake containing nearly five grams of seeds per slice produced positive results for 24 hours. Such results are viewed as [[false positive]] indications of drug use and were the basis of [[Poppy seed defence|a legal defense]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Meadway C, George S, Braithwaite R |date=August 31, 1998|title=Opiate concentrations following the ingestion of poppy seed products—evidence for 'the poppy seed defence'|journal=Forensic Science International|volume=96|issue=1|pages=29–38|pmid=9800363|doi=10.1016/S0379-0738(98)00107-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1097/00007691-200608000-00011 | last1 = Trafkowski | first1 = J | last2 = Madea | first2 = B | last3 = Musshoff | first3 = F |date=Aug 2006 | title = The significance of putative urinary markers of illicit heroin use after consumption of poppy seed products | journal=Therapeutic Drug Monitoring | volume = 28 | issue = 4| pages = 552–8 | pmid = 16885724 | s2cid = 22585610 }}</ref> On November 30, 1998, the standard cutoff was increased to 2000 nanograms (two micrograms) per milliliter.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Experience with a Urine Opiate Screening and Confirmation Cutoff of 2000 mg/ml|author1=Albert D. Fraser |author2=David Worth |date=October 1999|journal=Journal of Analytical Toxicology|volume=23|pages=549–551|pmid=10517566|issue=6|doi=10.1093/jat/23.6.549|doi-access=free}}</ref> Confirmation by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry will distinguish amongst opium and variants including poppy seeds, heroin, and morphine and codeine pharmaceuticals by measuring the morphine:codeine ratio and looking for the presence of noscapine and acetylcodeine, the latter of which is only found in illicitly produced heroin, and heroin metabolites such as 6-monoacetylmorphine.<ref>Gahlinger 2001</ref>

=== Harvesting and processing ===
[[File:Harvesting opium.jpg|thumb|left|Harvesting opium]]
When grown for opium production, the skin of the ripening pods of these poppies is scored by a sharp blade at a time carefully chosen so that rain, wind, and dew cannot spoil the exudation of white, milky [[latex]], usually in the afternoon. Incisions are made while the pods are still raw, with no more than a slight yellow tint, and must be shallow to avoid penetrating hollow inner chambers or ''loculi'' while cutting into the lactiferous vessels. In the Indian Subcontinent, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran, the special tool used to make the incisions is called a ''nushtar'' or "nishtar" (from [[Persian language|Persian]], meaning a lancet) and carries three or four blades three millimeters apart, which are scored upward along the pod. Incisions are made three or four times at intervals of two to three days, and each time the "poppy tears", which dry to a sticky brown resin, are collected the following morning. One acre harvested in this way can produce three to five kilograms of raw opium.<ref name="opioids.com">{{cite book |author=Anil Aggrawal |author-link=Anil Aggrawal |year=1995 |title=Narcotic Drugs |chapter=CHAPTER 2: THE STORY OF OPIUM |chapter-url=http://opioids.com/narcotic-drugs/chapter-2.html |publisher=National Book Trust |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-237-1383-0 |access-date=May 6, 2007 |archive-date=May 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519140512/http://opioids.com/narcotic-drugs/chapter-2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the [[Soviet Union]], pods were typically scored horizontally, and opium was collected three times, or else one or two collections were followed by isolation of opiates from the ripe capsules. Oil poppies, an alternative strain of ''P. somniferum'', were also used for production of opiates from their capsules and stems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1969-01-01_4_page002.html|title=UNODC – Bulletin on Narcotics – 1969 Issue 4 – 001|website=Unodc.org|access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref> A traditional Chinese method of harvesting opium latex involved cutting off the heads and piercing them with a coarse needle then collecting the dried opium 24 to 48 hours later.

Raw opium may be sold to a merchant or broker on the black market, but it usually does not travel far from the field before it is refined into '''morphine base''', because the pungent, jelly-like form of raw opium is bulkier and harder to smuggle. Crude laboratories in the field are capable of refining opium into morphine base by a simple [[acid-base extraction]]. A sticky, brown paste, morphine base is pressed into bricks and sun-dried, and can either be smoked, prepared into other forms or processed into heroin.<ref name="Frontline" />

Other methods of preparation (besides smoking), include processing into regular opium [[tincture]] (''tinctura opii''), [[laudanum]], [[paregoric]] (''tinctura opii camphorata''), [[herbal wine]] (e.g., ''vinum opii''), opium powder (''pulvis opii''), opium [[sirup]] (''sirupus opii'') and opium extract (''extractum opii'').<ref name=Belgische>Belgische Farmacopee, 5de uitgave, 1966; part 3</ref> Vinum opii is made by combining sugar, [[white wine]], [[cinnamon]], and [[cloves]]. Opium syrup is made by combining 97.5 part sugar syrup with 2.5 parts opium extract. Opium extract (''extractum opii'') finally can be made by macerating raw opium with water. To make opium extract, 20 parts water are combined with 1 part raw opium which has been boiled for 5 minutes (the latter to ease mixing).<ref name=Belgische />

Heroin is widely preferred because of increased potency. One study in postaddicts found heroin to be approximately 2.2 times more potent than [[morphine]] by weight with a similar duration; at these relative quantities, they could distinguish the drugs subjectively but had no preference.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=W. R. Martin |author2=H. F. Fraser |date=September 1, 1961|title=A comparative study of subjective and physiological effects of heroin and morphine administered intravenously in postaddicts|journal=Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics|volume=133|issue=3|pages=388–399|url=http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/133/3/388|access-date=June 6, 2007|pmid=13767429}}</ref> Heroin was also found to be twice as potent as morphine in surgical anesthesia.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Robinson SL, Rowbotham DJ, Smith G |date=July 1991|title=Morphine compared with diamorphine. A comparison of dose requirements and side-effects after hip surgery|journal=Anaesthesia|volume=46|issue=7|pages=538–40|pmid=1862890|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2044.1991.tb09650.x|s2cid=35289009|doi-access=free}}</ref> Morphine is converted into heroin by a simple chemical reaction with [[acetic anhydride]], followed by purification.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interpol |url=http://www.interpol.int/Public/Drugs/heroin/default.asp |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20010924215045/http://www.interpol.int/public/drugs/heroin/default.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-09-24 |access-date=May 9, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="UNODC 2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_1_chap1_opium.pdf|title=UNODC World Drug Report 2005|access-date=May 2, 2007}}</ref> Especially in Mexican production, opium may be converted directly to "[[black tar heroin]]" in a simplified procedure. This form predominates in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. Relative to other preparations of heroin, it has been associated with a dramatically decreased rate of HIV transmission among [[intravenous drug use]]rs (4 percent in Los Angeles vs. 40 percent in New York) due to technical requirements of injection, although it is also associated with greater risk of venous [[Sclerosis (medicine)|sclerosis]] and [[necrotizing fasciitis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2004/01/5049/black-tar-heroin-use-explains-lower-hiv-levels-among-injection-drug-users-i/|author1=Jeff Sheehy |author2=Corinna Kaarlela |title=Black tar heroin use explains lower HIV levels among intravenous drug users in the Western U.S|date=January 26, 2004|access-date=May 24, 2017}}</ref>

=== Illegal production ===
{{See also|Opium production in Afghanistan|Illegal drug trade}}
[[File:Drugroutemap.gif|thumb|right|International drug routes]]
[[File:Opium poppies in Helmand -a.jpg|thumb|right|Afghanistan, [[Helmand province]]. A [[United States Marines|Marine]] greets local children working in the field of opium poppies near the base.]]

[[opium production in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] was formerly the primary producer of the drug. Having regularly producing 70 percent of the world's opium, Afghanistan decreased production to 74 tons per year under a ban by the [[Taliban]] in 2000, a move which cut production by 94 percent. A year later, after American and British troops [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|invaded Afghanistan]], removed the Taliban and installed the interim government, the land under cultivation leapt back to {{convert|285|sqmi|km2}}, with Afghanistan supplanting Burma to become the world's largest opium producer once more. Opium production increased rapidly in Afghanistan from that point,<ref>{{cite news|author=Paul Harris in Peshawar |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,605618,00.html |title=Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates |publisher=Observer.guardian.co.uk |date= November 25, 2001|access-date=March 21, 2010 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007_3.1.1_afghanistan.pdf |title=UN World Drug Report 2007 – Afghanistan |access-date=March 21, 2010}}</ref> reaching an all-time high in 2006. According to [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] statistics, Afghanistan's production of oven-dried opium increased to 1,278 tons in 2002, more than doubled by 2003, and nearly doubled again during 2004. In late 2004, the U.S. government estimated that 206,000 hectares were under poppy cultivation, 4.5 percent of the country's total cropland, and produced 4,200 metric tons of opium, 76 percent of the world's supply, yielding 60 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/afghanistan/weeklyreports/022405_report.html|title=Rebuilding Afghanistan: Weekly Activity Update|date=February 24, 2005|access-date=May 11, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509070349/http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/afghanistan/weeklyreports/022405_report.html|archive-date=May 9, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2006, the [[UN Office on Drugs and Crime]] estimated production to have risen 59 percent to {{convert|407000|acre|ha|order=flip}} in cultivation, yielding 6,100 tons of opium, 82 percent of the world's supply.<ref>{{cite news|author=BBC News|date=August 2, 2006|title=UN warns of soaring Afghan opium |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5308180.stm|access-date=June 6, 2007}}</ref> The value of the resulting heroin was estimated at {{US$|3.5{{nbsp}}billion}}, of which Afghan farmers were estimated to have received {{US$|700{{nbsp}}million}} in revenue. For farmers, the crop can be up to ten times more profitable than wheat. The price of opium is around {{US$|138}} per kilo. Opium production has led to rising tensions in Afghan villages. Though direct conflict has yet to occur, the opinions of the new class of young rich men involved in the opium trade are at odds with those of the traditional village leaders.<ref name="Goodhand-2000">{{cite journal | last1 = Goodhand|first1= Jonathan | year = 2000 | title = From holy war to opium war? A case study of the opium economy in North Eastern Afghanistan | journal = Central Asian Survey | volume = 19 | issue = 2| pages = 265–280 | doi=10.1080/02634930050079354|pmid= 18348361 |s2cid= 2591603 }}</ref>
[[File:Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation 1994-2007b.PNG|thumb|left|Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation, 1994–2016 (hectares)]]
An increasingly large fraction of opium is processed into morphine base and heroin in drug labs in Afghanistan. Despite an international set of chemical controls designed to restrict availability of [[acetic anhydride]], it enters the country, perhaps through its Central Asian neighbors which do not participate. A counternarcotics law passed in December 2005 requires Afghanistan to develop registries or regulations for tracking, storing, and owning acetic anhydride.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2006/vol1/html/62105.htm |title=International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Chemical controls |access-date=May 11, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In November 2023, a U.N report showed that in the entirety of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation dropped by over 95%, removing it from its place as being the world's largest opium producer.<ref name="aljazeera.com"/><ref name="news.un.org"/>

Besides Afghanistan, smaller quantities of opium are produced in Pakistan, the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] region of Southeast Asia (particularly [[Burma]]), Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

[[File:opiumball.jpg|thumb|{{convert|200|g|abbr=on}} Spanish opium ball]]
Chinese production mainly trades with and profits from North America. In 2002, they were seeking to expand through eastern United States. In the post 9/11 era, trading between borders became difficult and because new international laws were set into place, the opium trade became more diffused. Power shifted from remote to high-end smugglers and opium traders. Outsourcing became a huge factor for survival for many smugglers and opium farmers.<ref>Brzezinski, Matthew. "Re-Engineering the Drug Business". ''The New York Times Magazine'', June 23, 2002</ref>

In 2023 [[Myanmar|Burma]] overtook [[Afghanistan]] and became the world's largest producer of opium, producing 1080 metric tones according the [[United Nations|UN]] Southeast Asia Opium Survey report.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNODC |url=https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/documents/Publications/2023/Southeast_Asia_Opium_Survey_2023.pdf |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref>

=== Legal production ===
{{Main|Opium licensing}}
Legal opium production is allowed under the [[United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs]] and other international drug treaties, subject to strict supervision by the [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]] of individual countries. The leading legal production method is the Robertson-[[Gregory process]], whereby the entire poppy, excluding roots and leaves, is mashed and stewed in dilute acid solutions. The [[alkaloids]] are then recovered via [[acid-base extraction]] and purified. The exact date of its discovery is unknown, but it was described by Wurtz in his ''Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée'' published in 1868.<ref>{{cite web|title=UNODC – Bulletin on Narcotics – 1950 Issue 3 – 003|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1950-01-01_3_page004.html|access-date=2021-05-05|website=United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime|language=en}}</ref>

[[Legal opium production in India]] is much more traditional. As of 2008, opium was collected by farmers who were licensed to grow {{convert|0.1|ha|acre}} of opium poppies, who to maintain their licences needed to sell 56 kilograms of unadulterated raw opium paste. The price of opium paste is fixed by the government according to the quality and quantity tendered. The average is around 1500 rupees ({{US$|29}}) per kilogram.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbn.nic.in|title=CENTRAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS, INDIA|work=cbn.nic.in|access-date=April 4, 2016}}</ref> Some additional money is made by drying the poppy heads and collecting poppy seeds, and a small fraction of opium beyond the quota may be consumed locally or diverted to the black market. The opium paste is dried and processed into government opium and alkaloid factories before it is packed into cases of 60 kilograms for export. Purification of chemical constituents is done in India for domestic production, but typically done abroad by foreign importers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieo.org/opm_mass.html|title=Opium for the masses: photo essay on cultivation of opium in India|author=Pablo Bartholomew|author-link=Pablo Bartholomew|year=1996|access-date=June 15, 2007|archive-date=July 1, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701222546/http://www.ieo.org/opm_mass.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Legal opium importation from India and Turkey is conducted by [[Mallinckrodt]], [[Noramco]], [[Abbott Laboratories]], [[Purdue Pharma]], and [[Cody Laboratories Inc.]] in the United States, and legal opium production is conducted by [[GlaxoSmithKline]], [[Johnson & Johnson]], [[Johnson Matthey]], and [[Mayne Pharma|Mayne]] in [[Tasmania]], Australia; [[Sanofi Aventis]] in France; [[Shionogi]] Pharmaceutical in Japan; and [[MacFarlan Smith]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Senlis">{{cite web|url=http://www.senliscouncil.net/documents/feasibility_study_conclusions_and_recommendations |title=Feasibility Study on Opium Licensing in Afghanistan |author=Senlis Council |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928073417/http://www.senliscouncil.net/documents/feasibility_study_conclusions_and_recommendations |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> The UN treaty requires that every country submit annual reports to the [[International Narcotics Control Board]], stating that year's actual consumption of many classes of controlled drugs as well as opioids and projecting required quantities for the next year.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} This is to allow trends in consumption to be monitored and production quotas allotted.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

In 2005, the European [[Senlis Council]] began developing a programme which hopes to solve the problems caused by the large quantity of [[Opium production in Afghanistan|opium produced illegally in Afghanistan]], most of which is converted to heroin and smuggled for sale in Europe and the United States.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} This proposal is to [[opium licensing|license]] Afghan farmers to produce opium for the world pharmaceutical market, and thereby solve another problem, that of chronic underuse of potent analgesics where required within [[developing country|developing nations]]. Part of the proposal is to overcome the "80–20 rule" that requires the U.S. to purchase 80 percent of its legal opium from India and Turkey to include Afghanistan, by establishing a second-tier system of supply control that complements the current INCB regulated supply and demand system by providing poppy-based medicines to countries who cannot meet their demand under the current regulations. Senlis arranged a conference in Kabul that brought drug policy experts from around the world to meet with Afghan government officials to discuss internal security, corruption issues, and legal issues within Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/events/kabul|title=The Kabul International Symposium on Drug Policy|author=Senlis Council|date=September 26, 2005|access-date=May 4, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313235653/http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/events/kabul/|archive-date=March 13, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
In June 2007, the council launched a "Poppy for Medicines" project that provides a technical blueprint for the implementation of an integrated control system within Afghan village-based poppy for medicine projects: the idea promotes the economic diversification by redirecting proceeds from the legal cultivation of poppy and production of poppy-based medicines.<ref name="senliscouncil">[http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/documents/poppy_medicine_technical_dossier Poppy for Medicine: "Licensing poppy for the production of essential medicines: an integrated counter-narcotics, development, and counter-insurgency model for Afghanistan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928073343/http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/documents/poppy_medicine_technical_dossier |date=September 28, 2007 }}. ''[[Senlis Council]].'' June 2007. Retrieved on September 21, 2007.</ref> There has been criticism of the Senlis report findings by Macfarlan Smith, who argue that though they produce morphine in Europe, they were never asked to contribute to the report.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3036656/afg-CN-Macfarlanesmithreport |title=Letter from Macfarlan Smith |access-date=March 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322025248/http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3036656/afg-CN-Macfarlanesmithreport |archive-date=March 22, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

=== Cultivation in the UK ===
In late 2006, the British government permitted the pharmaceutical company [[MacFarlan Smith]] (a [[Johnson Matthey]] company) to cultivate opium poppies in England for medicinal reasons, after Macfarlan Smith's primary source, India, decided to increase the price of export opium latex. This move is well received by British farmers, with a major opium poppy field located in [[Didcot]], England. The British government has contradicted the Home Office's suggestion that opium cultivation can be legalized in Afghanistan for exports to the United Kingdom, helping lower poverty and internal fighting while helping the [[National Health Service|NHS]] to meet the high demand for [[morphine]] and heroin. Opium poppy cultivation in the United Kingdom does not need a licence, but a licence is required for those wishing to extract opium for medicinal products.<ref>The painkilling fields: England's opium poppies that tackle the NHS morphine crisis, [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23404311-details/The%20painkilling%20fields:%20England's%20opium%20poppies%20that%20tackle%20the%20NHS%20morphine%20crisis/article.do Press release] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010224932/https://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23404311-details/The%20painkilling%20fields%3A%20England%27s%20opium%20poppies%20that%20tackle%20the%20NHS%20morphine%20crisis/article.do |date=October 10, 2008 }}, September 15, 2007.</ref>

=== Consumption ===
[[File:Akha man with opium pipe.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Akha people|Akha]] man smokes a pipe containing opium mixed with tobacco.]]
In the industrialized world, the United States is the world's biggest consumer of prescription opioids, with Italy being one of the lowest, because of tighter regulations on prescribing narcotics for pain relief.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Oral morphine consumption in Italy and Sicily|author=S. Mercadante|journal=Journal of Pain and Symptom Management|year=1998|volume=15|issue=4|pages=227–30|doi=10.1016/S0885-3924(98)00368-6|pmid=9601157|df=mdy-all|doi-access=free}}</ref> Most opium imported into the United States is broken down into its [[alkaloid]] constituents, and whether legal or illegal, most current drug use occurs with processed derivatives such as heroin rather than with unrefined opium.

[[Intravenous injection]] of opiates is most used: by comparison with injection, "dragon chasing" (heating of heroin on a piece of foil), and [[madak]] and "ack ack" (smoking of cigarettes containing tobacco mixed with heroin powder) are only 40 percent and 20 percent efficient, respectively.<ref>{{cite journal|title=An Assessment Of Inhalation As A Mode Of Administration Of Heroin By Addicts|url=http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/154/1/142|author1=Benjamin Pui-Nin Mo |author2=E. Leong Way |journal=Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics|volume=154|issue=1|date=October 1, 1966|pages=142–151|access-date=June 6, 2007|pmid=5924312}}</ref> One study of British heroin addicts found a 12-fold excess mortality ratio (1.8 percent of the group dying per year).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Acute Heroin Overdose|author=Karl A. Sporer, M.D.|date=April 6, 1999|volume=130|issue=7|pages=584–590|doi=10.7326/0003-4819-130-7-199904060-00019|pmid=10189329|journal=Annals of Internal Medicine|s2cid=22949289}}</ref> Most heroin deaths result not from overdose ''per se'', but combination with other depressant drugs such as [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] or [[benzodiazepine]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Darke S, Zador D |title=Fatal heroin 'overdose': a review |journal=[[Addiction (journal)|Addiction]] |volume=91 |issue=12 |pages=1765–72 |date=December 1996 |pmid=8997759 |doi=10.1046/j.1360-0443.1996.911217652.x }}</ref>

The smoking of opium does not involve the [[pyrolysis|burning]] of the material as might be imagined. Rather, the prepared opium is indirectly heated to temperatures at which the active alkaloids, chiefly morphine, are vaporized. In the past, smokers would use a specially designed [[opium pipe]] which had a removable knob-like pipe-bowl of fired earthenware attached by a metal fitting to a long, cylindrical stem.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://softfamous.com/category/windows/network/vpn/|title=Anonymous Proxy|website=Softfamous.com|access-date=June 11, 2022}}</ref> A small "pill" of opium about the size of a pea would be placed on the pipe-bowl, which was then heated by holding it over an [[opium lamp]], a special oil lamp with a distinct funnel-like chimney to channel heat into a small area. The smoker would lie on his or her side in order to guide the pipe-bowl and the tiny pill of opium over the stream of heat rising from the chimney of the oil lamp and inhale the vaporized opium fumes as needed. Several pills of opium were smoked at a single session depending on the smoker's tolerance to the drug. The effects could last up to twelve hours.

In [[Eastern world|Eastern culture]], opium is more commonly used in the form of [[paregoric]] to treat [[diarrhea]]. This is a weaker solution than [[laudanum]], an alcoholic tincture which was prevalently used as a pain medication and sleeping aid. Tincture of opium has been prescribed for, among other things, severe diarrhea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://drugs.uta.edu/laudanum.html|title=Laudanum|access-date=May 4, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070531225628/http://drugs.uta.edu/laudanum.html|archive-date=May 31, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Taken thirty minutes prior to meals, it significantly slows intestinal motility, giving the intestines greater time to absorb fluid in the stool.

Despite the historically negative view of opium as a cause of addiction, the use of morphine and other derivatives isolated from opium in the treatment of chronic pain has been reestablished. If given in controlled doses, modern opiates can be an effective treatment for [[neuropathic pain]] and other forms of chronic pain.<ref name="BallantyneJane">{{cite journal |last1=Ballantyne |first1=JC |last2=Mao |first2=J |title=Opioid therapy for chronic pain. |journal=The New England journal of medicine |date=13 November 2003 |volume=349 |issue=20 |pages=1943-53 |doi=10.1056/NEJMra025411 |pmid=14614170}}</ref>