Opium

Opium (poppy tears, lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium latex contains approximately 12% of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off, and dehydrated. The word "meconium" (derived from the Greek for "opium-like", but now used to refer to infant stools) historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the opium poppy or different species of poppies.

The production of opium itself has not changed since ancient times. Through selective breeding of the Papaver somniferum plant, the content of the phenanthrene alkaloids morphine, codeine, and to a lesser extent thebaine, has been greatly increased. In modern times, much of the thebaine, which often serves as the raw material for the synthesis for hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and other semisynthetic opiates, originates from extracting Papaver orientale or Papaver bracteatum.

Opium (disambiguation)

Opium is a plant latex that is a source of narcotic analgesic drugs

Opium may also refer to:

Places

Biology

Brands

Arts, entertainment, and media

Film

Music

Albums

Songs

Literature

Fictional locations

Works

See also

Opium (Serebro song)

Опиум (Opioom (or Opium in English)) is the third released single by Russian girl band Serebro. Given to its order of release, the song is nicknamed "Song #3" after its predecessors "Song #1" and "Song #2" (Дыши). This is the fourth song to be made public from Serebro's upcoming album after "What's Your Problem?" was performed at the RMA on 4 October 2007.

Debut

On 13 March 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that they will be releasing their third (official) single "Опиум". The site says that the song premiered on a Russian morning radio show 'BrigadaU' on Europa Plus radio and that until 17 March Europa Plus had exclusive rights to play the song.

The song Опиум is available to download for free (as are other serebro songs) on the official Serebro website.

On 2 May 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that the new music video of Opium will debut on MUV-TV, 7 May 2008. They also mention that this date is the day after their producer's (Maxim Fadeev) birthday.