Addiction

CHEM 1660 BETTER LIVING THROUGH
CHEMISTRY

Part III Addiction
Dr. Susan Y. LIANG
Email: [e-mail]
Office: FSC 702B

Opium – Catholicon or Toxin
• Evidence suggests that more than
5,000 years ago the properties of opium were known in the Euphrates
River (幼发拉底河) delta.
• Around 330 B. C., Alexander the Great took opium to Persia and India, from where cultivation slowly spread eastward and reached China in about the 7th century (唐朝).

13th century, India

The opium poppy

Early history of poppy

Opium – Catholicon or Toxin

Opium is the dried latex (汁液) obtained from the opium poppy (罂粟). It is white color in the beginning and turn brown for a while.

• For hundreds of years opium remained a medical herb in both West and East.
• "Among the remedies which it has pleased Almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium."
‐‐‐‐‐ Thomas.Sydenham

Opium drinks or pellets were easily obtained in 19th century, just like today’s aspirin.

The Opium War
• The earliest clear description of the use of opium as a recreational drug
(消遣药物) in China in 1483 (Ming
Dynasty). It was only affordable by the royal family at first.
• The smuggling (走私) speeded up the spread of opium to the bottom of society in 17th century (Qing Dyansty)

The Opium War

东莞虎门林则徐硝烟纪念馆

香港历史博物馆

Morphine – The Active Molecule in Opium
• Opium contains 24 different alkaloids (生物碱).
Morphine (吗啡) is the most abundant one, up to
10% of the crude opium extract.
• Pure morphine was first isolated from the poppy latex in 1803, and was named after Morpheus, the
Roman god of dreams (梦神?).

The darker lines of the wedge‐shaped bonds point out of the plane of the paper.

• Morphine is a narcotic (麻醉药/镇静剂), a molecule that numbs the senses (thus removing pain) and induces sleep.

Addiction of Morphine
• In the early 20th century, doctors