opium | Kit Perriman

Did you know:

Papaver somnifera – the Opium Poppy – has been cultivated in Eurasia for over 6,000 years.
There is some evidence that poppies were important in pre-historic religious rites.
The word opium comes from the Greek word opos, meaning juice. It was associated with the love goddess Aphrodite, and the god of sleep, Hypnos.
The flowers can be red, white, orange, yellow, and deep pink.
Not all poppies contain the narcotic opium, but they are all poisonous. For this reason they were traditionally mixed with hemlock for a quick and painless death.
For many years opium was used as a murder weapon by unscrupulous members of the medical profession.
Poisoning occurs from eating unripe poppy seed capsules, or from overdose after it has been processed into opium, codeine, heroine, and morphine.
Poppies were grown for a wide range of medicinal benefits: sedatives, pain reduction, and mood elevation. The Greeks and Romans used them to treat diarrhea, dysentery, asthma, stomach complaints, and poor eyesight.
Overdose triggers erratic behavior, loss of appetite, stupor, coma, and may result in death from respiratory failure.
Poppies are also toxic for dogs and cats.
John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields inspired the adoption of the poppy as the national Remembrance Day symbol to honor British war veterans.