Opium

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Revision as of 07:28, 7 October 2009 by imported>Howard C. Berkowitz (New page: '''Opium''' is a resin extracted from the flowering plant ''Papeverum somniferum''' during certain stages of its cultivation. Crude opium can be smoked or eaten as a recreational drug, but...)
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'Opium is a resin extracted from the flowering plant Papeverum somniferum during certain stages of its cultivation. Crude opium can be smoked or eaten as a recreational drug, but is more commonly prepared into abusable pharmaceutical forms such as morphine or [[codeine], or the less medicinally used but more abused heroin. Other variants of the species are grown as ornamentals, or food flavorings, and even the opium poppy has a lovely flower.

Opium cultivation is a large part of the world's illicit drug trade.