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The first known cultivation of opium poppies was in Mesopotamia, approximately 3400 BCE, by Sumerians, who called the plant hul gil, the "joy plant". [11] [12] Tablets found at Nippur, a Sumerian spiritual center south of Baghdad, described the collection of poppy juice in the morning and its use in production of opium. [1] Cultivation continued in the Middle East by the Assyrians, who also collected poppy juice in the morning after scoring the pods with an iron scoop; they called the juice aratpa-pal, possibly the root of Papaver. [13] Opium production continued under the Babylonians and Egyptians. MacPherson, Duncan (1843). Two years in China. Narrative of the Chinese expedition, from its formation in April, 1840, to the treaty of peace in August, 1842. London, Saunders.Sawynok J (January 1986). "The therapeutic use of heroin: a review of the pharmacological literature". Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. 64 (1): 1–6. doi: 10.1139/y86-001. PMID 2420426. Heroin which is derived from opium is most often injected, however, it may also be vaporized (or smoked), sniffed (also known as snorting), used as a rectal suppository, or orally ingested by mouth. Some competition came from the newly independent United States, which began to compete in Guangzhou, selling Turkish opium in the 1820s. Portuguese traders also brought opium from the independent Malwa states of western India, although by 1820, the British were able to restrict this trade by charging "pass duty" on the opium when it was forced to pass through Bombay to reach an entrepot. [20] Hideyuki Takano; The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom (2002, Kotan, ISBN 0-9701716-1-7) It was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a potent pain reliever. It was grown in Southeast Asia and known as the "joy plant", or Hul Gil, by the Sumerians.

Trafkowski, J; Madea, B; Musshoff, F (August 2006). "The significance of putative urinary markers of illicit heroin use after consumption of poppy seed products". Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 28 (4): 552–8. doi: 10.1097/00007691-200608000-00011. PMID 16885724. S2CID 22585610. Heroin is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and as such has no acceptable medical use in the United States. Drug Addiction Research and the Health of Women – pg. 33–52" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2008 . Retrieved March 21, 2010.The process continued until 1817, when Sertürner published his results after thirteen years of research and a nearly disastrous trial on himself and three boys. [102] The great advantage of purified morphine was that a patient could be treated with a known dose—whereas with raw plant material, as Gabriel Fallopius once lamented, "if soporifics are weak they do not help; if they are strong they are exceedingly dangerous." Thelwall, A. S. (1839). The iniquities of the opium trade with China; being a development of the main causes which exclude the merchants of Great Britain from the advantages of an unrestricted commercial intercourse with that vast empire. With extracts from authentic documents. London: Wm. H. Allen and Co.

a b Commissioner Jesse B. Cook (June 1931). "San Francisco's Old Chinatown". San Francisco Police and Peace Officers' Journal . Retrieved September 22, 2007. Opium and alcohol/benzodiazepines/ketamine/GHB: can increase sedation and lead to unconsciousness, choking on vomit, and possible death. 6,7 Other synthetic or semisynthetic opium derivatives include fentanyl, methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Opium was prohibited in many countries during the early 20th century, leading to the modern pattern of opium production as a precursor for illegal recreational drugs or tightly regulated, highly taxed, legal prescription drugs. In 1980, 2,000 tons of opium supplied all legal and illegal uses. [20] Worldwide production in 2006 was 6610 tonnes [107]—about one-fifth the level of production in 1906; since then, opium production has fallen. [ citation needed]Garzoni, Costantino. 1840 [1573]. "Relazione dell'impero Ottomano del senatore Costantino Garzoni stato all'ambascieria di Costantinopoli nel 1573". In Le relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al Senato, serie III, volume I, ed. Eugenio Albèri. Firenze: Clio, p. 398 Chandra, Siddharth (2008). "Economic Histories of the Opium Trade". Archived from the original on September 28, 2013.