A beautiful magical flower with power from the Gods.

Magical power from the gods?  That’s right, this beautiful, bodacious red flower has abilities you wouldn’t believe.  In-fact if it weren’t for the little flower modern healthcare and medicine as we know it wouldn’t exist. its the Poppy.

We all know what the Poppy is, right.  Its the flower from The Wizard Of Oz where Dorothy and her friends run through and soon fall into a perilous sleep.

That’s true but its also the source of the alkaloid base for the entire Opioid family of medicinal drugs.

Opium’s history dates back to 3400 B.C., when the first records of its cultivation and use are known.

• 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.
• The Assyrians and the Egyptians also cultivated opium, and it traveled along the Silk Road (a series of travel routes) between Europe and China where it was involved in the beginning of the Opium Wars of the 1800s.
• Opium dens were places where opium could be bought and sold, and were also found worldwide, especially in Southeast Asia, China and Europe.
• In the U.S. in the 1800’s, opium dens sprang up in the west, such as in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and spread east to New York. Chinese immigrants who came to the U.S. for railroad and the gold rush work often brought their opium with them for its intoxicating and pain-relieving effects.

Major opioids include: