Taz is a heroin addict
My favourite Looney Tunes character has always been Taz, the Tasmanian devil. However, my opinion on him has radically changed since I read of a distinctive feature of Tasmania: this region is a massive producer of opium straw. So, in case you’ve ever wondered what kind of force powers Taz’s whirring around, now you have the answer: heroin-craving.
The green capsules of Papaver Somniferum are incised from April to June, when it’s still immature, at midday: from the cut, a white juice begins to come out but, given that it’s midday, so it’s likely to be very hot, it dries rapidly. The next day the dry product is collected in cakes which are often placed in the sun for an additional cycle of drying. The same capsules can be incised every 3 or 4 days throughout the harvest time.
But, of course, morphine isn’t the only substance to be collected from poppies: it actually contains 25 alkaloids (either phenantrene or benzylisoquinoline derivatives). The most abundant, after morphine, are codeine, noscapine, narceine and papaverine.
From a pharmacological point of view, codeine is, of course, the most interesting one, due to its well-known antitussive properties.
Having just finished working at a chemist’s, I think it’s important to remind that, in the past, opium used to be the main ingredient in a galenic preparation called laudanum. This is basically an alcoholic solution (normal red wine was often chosen), where cloves, saffron and cinnamon leaves are employed to improve the bitter taste of opium. Although the high levels of morphine undoubtedly guarantee analgesic effect, the presence of all the other poppy alkaloids (some of which toxic) explains why this remedy is no longer administered. More importantly, though, laudanum has always been a drug of abuse, in part because of the alcohol content.
My favorite heroin addict is Sherlock Holmes.
Mitch
The US War on Drugs is entirely clueless about where all the world's opium alkaloids originate. Brilliantly colored poppy fields are invisible to airborne and satellite telemetry. Multi-$billion annual US subsidies to Afghani poppy farmers cannot be traced. Now here you are making the War on Drugs even harder by telling them where to look.
The US maintains more than 2 million prisoners - most on petty charges - the most of any nation on the planet. If we are to achieve 3 million we cannot do it by constricting opportunties for Official crime.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws."
-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
I must confirm the great anti-tussive properties of codeine - due to persistant bronchitis my doc prescribed me a bottle of codeine syrup (I complained about the poor efficacy of the dextromethorphane stuff) and I used it up promptly so he gave me a new prescription, kidding you not, for a 700mL bottle of the good stuff, containing 2 g of codeine phosphate in the bottle.
I have fond memories of taking few swigs from the syrup bottle, and sitting in my office, completely cough-free, unable to work and smiling like an imbecile.
Heroin is simply a delivery vehicle for morphine, via its increased lipid solubility. Heroin is made directly from morphine, and is reconverted upon ingestion and metabolisation.
It is neither a good nor a bad substance, just a substance. Its nature comes from its use and application. To me, Prohibition is the villain, not the substance.