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View Full Version : Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the History of Opium Addiction



Mister D
09-25-2012, 02:21 PM
Snip

As previously mentioned, opium is derived from the unripe seedpod of the flower
Papaver
somniferum.
Sumerian ideograms, dated to 4,000 B.C., show the poppy as a plant of joy – likely
the first record of human opium consumption (Scott, 1969). In Egypt, around 1,500 B.C., the
Therapeutic Papyrus of Thebes was written. Within this early medical document, opium was
listed as a cure for colic in infants. In J.M. Scott’s history of opium, he describes this effect as an
example of the chief attraction of opium as a medicine. It is guaranteed to show results. Even if it
does not cure the disease it removes the pain, which is all the unscientific patient worries about.
It soothes both body and mind (Scott, 1969).
It is likely for this reason that it was used ‘medicinally’ by the Assyrians, who knew little
of disease (Scott, 1969). Opium is cures practically all symptoms, and therefore has been
heralded throughout its history as a cure for virtually any illness.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/uofc/Others/HOM/Dayspapers2001.pdf#page=33

Carygrant
09-25-2012, 04:01 PM
Snip

. Opium is cures practically all symptoms, and therefore has been
heralded throughout its history as a cure for virtually any illness.




Don't wait . Get as much as possible up your bum as you can manage .

Mister D
09-26-2012, 07:46 AM
Don't wait . Get as much as possible up your bum as you can manage .

Cary, your homosexual advances are getting a little creepy now. Stick to the topic, bitch tits.

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:00 AM
http://unrepentantoldhippie.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/opium-museum-photo-gallery_1258644901500.png?w=288&h=215

San Francisco, early 1900s, man smoking opium with his cat.

http://unrepentantoldhippie.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/opium-museum-photo-gallery_1258644918603.png?w=288&h=218

Opium den in New York City, early 20th century.

http://unrepentantoldhippie.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/billie-holiday-busted-for-opium-san-francisco-1949-on-flickr-photo-sharing_1258644374821.png?w=288&h=229
The magnificent Billie Holiday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday) when she was arrested for opium possession in 1949:

http://unrepentantoldhippie.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/opium-museum-photo-gallery_1258644944346.png?w=288&h=205

Young kid smoking opium, late 1800s:

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:06 AM
When I took Recon 1 at Camp Red Cloud.....I got to see what a Korean Opium Hut was like. They seal up the Doorway and any openings with Mud. Once you go in, there is no leaving until the session is done. Guys talked about it and that it was so hard to breathe in the Hut. All lay on the ground. Some said they had to use lil tiny tubes to the outside just so one could breathe.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:09 AM
Nice pics. Yeah, it must be difficult to breathe but your system probably slows down enough that you can handle it.

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:13 AM
Nice pics. Yeah, it must be difficult to breathe but your system probably slows down enough that you can handle it.


Yeah, and there is no place for the Smoke to go. Some of the guys said they could get a contact buzz just being in the hut right after a sesssion with things opened up. Myself i never did. I walked in and looked around. Just a mud hut. Although, there is no mistaking the soap smell.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:16 AM
I've tried heroin (powder) a long time ago and I can see how this stuff could become a lifestyle.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:18 AM
Like the OP states, I can also understand why it took virtually every painful symptom of disease away.

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:27 AM
http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=I.4536701666789078&pid=1.7&w=304&h=155&c=7&rs=1 http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=I.5007155176931787&pid=1.7&w=304&h=155&c=7&rs=1


http://www.arscurandi.ca/op_files/image004.jpg

In 1874, the German pharmacist Dreser created Heroin (derived from hero) using morphine as a basic ingredient and sold the formula to Bayer, a pharmaceutical concern, which made the drug available as an over the counter medicine.
Around the same time, so called opium dens were popular especially in china, where people would meet to consume opium together. Later, opium dens became notorious fixtures of many Chinatowns around the world and in 1875, the first law outright prohibiting the use of opium was passed in San Francisco, California. It was stated that "many women and young girls, as well as young men of respectable family, were being induced to visit the Chinese opium-smoking dens, where they were ruined morally and otherwise," though there is no evidence to suggest this ever happened.
Today, it is estimated that 75% of the heroin consumed in Europe is prepared from Taliban opium stocks and the opium and heroin trafficking out of Afghanistan totals more than $1 billion US dollar. The opium traffic is suspected to have helped fund al Qaeda and other terrorist groups from around Southern Asia.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=California+Opium+dens+and+trade&view=detail&id=12FC6874D24039604E52115EE903539C48327C7B&first=1


It was sold over the Counter by Bayer. Also Spread thru medicinal Wagons across the West.

Myself I never tried Heroin. But I have smoked opium back in the day. I really didnt get much from it and preferred Hash, or Kief. Course the Connisuers of Mary Jane!

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:37 AM
It is possible that characters in stories are based on observations of real people. Ifthis was indeed the case in the Ramayana, then we can conclude that sleep apnea, acondition we first recognized in the 1960’s, may have been present as far back as800 B.C. :shocked:

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:41 AM
Imagine taking that kind of Bayer for a headache? :laugh:

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:42 AM
It is possible that characters in stories are based on observations of real people. Ifthis was indeed the case in the Ramayana, then we can conclude that sleep apnea, acondition we first recognized in the 1960’s, may have been present as far back as
800 B.C. :shocked:


That's not all too surprising. Some diseases/conditions disappear but others have been with us for a long tim.e.

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:48 AM
Imagine taking that kind of Bayer for a headache? :laugh:

I think their problem was solved, unless it was some sort of Migraine. Which then it could cause the headache to be worse.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 08:49 AM
I think their problem was solved, unless it was some sort of Migraine. Which then it could cause the headache to be worse.

That wuld probably relieve the pain of a migraine, IMO. I've never had one but that stuff really kills all pain, man. :shocked:

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:49 AM
That's not all too surprising. Some diseases/conditions disappear but others have been with us for a long tim.e.

Yeah I posted that up.....as I wonder if it was dismissed out of hand due to the story that came with it.

MMC
09-26-2012, 08:52 AM
Well I guess I have had the Dirivitive with Morphine. Although I know some that had Cluster Headaches. Which even Light bothers one. Even low lighting.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 09:10 AM
Well I guess I have had the Dirivitive with Morphine. Although I know some that had Cluster Headaches. Which even Light bothers one. Even low lighting.

I find morphine to be lighter than other opioids and much lighter than heroin. It has werid side effects too. I got indigestion from it.

MMC
09-26-2012, 09:27 AM
I find morphine to be lighter than other opioids and much lighter than heroin. It has werid side effects too. I got indigestion from it.

Yeah it messed with my stomach too. Whcih I don't even remember the dosage of it. But it was some good shit. As I felt no pain. Not even when they were removing a couple rounds from my azz.


Thought to be honest I could have took like 20 Blue meanies and still not felt pain.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 09:28 AM
Yeah it messed with my stomach too. Whcih I don't even remember the dosage of it. But it was some good shit. As I felt no pain. Not even when they were removing a couple rounds from my azz.


Thought to be honest I could have took like 20 Blue meanies and still not felt pain.

I took some pills. If it was injected it would probably be more effective. I'd imagine you were given a needle.

Mister D
09-26-2012, 09:30 AM
They stopped using morphine for a while after the Civil War for a while if I'm not mistaken because of addiction problems. Not sure when it was reintroduced. This was back in the days when you could get this stuff at a local pharmacy or apothecary.

Carygrant
09-26-2012, 09:47 AM
Cary, your homosexual advances are getting a little creepy now. Stick to the topic, bitch tits.


You don't have to be a male Gay just because you have found an usual place to store things when your apartment has run out of space .

Mister D
09-26-2012, 09:48 AM
You don't have to be a male Gay just because you have found an usual place to store things when your apartment has run out of space .

Cary, you're lame.

Carygrant
09-26-2012, 09:57 AM
[QUOTE=Mister D;141412 I got indigestion from it.[/QUOTE]


Over here we call it brain failure .

Many of the apparently great English Victorian poets were dope heads -- opium . Laudanum .
And of course modern Psychiatry features Mister Freud and some of his friends , all avid Dope fiends . Opium and Cocaine.
I swore by trifle until I embarked on this wretched diet.
But what about my great grand father --- a certain Mister Holmes ?

MMC
09-26-2012, 10:25 AM
I took some pills. If it was injected it would probably be more effective. I'd imagine you were given a needle.

Yeah and a drip bag. Plus when I had the hernia surgery too. Which they even put the controller into my hand. :evil:

But I still managed to get my ass out there in less than 24 hrs.

MMC
09-26-2012, 10:28 AM
Basil Rathbone was All doped up? :shocked: That Sherlock Holmes? Hmmmm Gene Wilder I could believe. :wink:

MMC
09-26-2012, 10:29 AM
Laudanum.....yeah isnt that what they went to during the Civil War or Rights before it really? Isn't that a dirivitive of Heroin?

Mister D
09-26-2012, 10:33 AM
Interesting...

Later it was found that morphine was more addictive than either alcohol or opium, and its extensive use during the American Civil War (http://thepoliticalforums.com/wiki/American_Civil_War) allegedly resulted in over 400,000[69] (http://thepoliticalforums.com/#cite_note-68) sufferers from the "soldier's disease" of morphine addiction.[70] (http://thepoliticalforums.com/#cite_note-69)[71] (http://thepoliticalforums.com/#cite_note-70) This idea has been a subject of controversy, as there have been suggestions that such a disease was in fact a fabrication; the first documented use of the phrase "soldier's disease" was in 1915.[72] (http://thepoliticalforums.com/#cite_note-71)[73] (http://thepoliticalforums.com/#cite_note-72)

Mister D
09-26-2012, 10:34 AM
All opioids are highly addictive though. It would make sense that addiction was common particularly at a time when no one knew the risks.

waltky
10-31-2012, 03:18 AM
One-fourth of the opium grown is grown in Myanmar...
:shocked:
UN report: Opium cultivation rising in Burma
31 October 2012 - Burma accounts for 25% of opium grown in the world


Opium growing has increased in Burma for a sixth year running despite eradication efforts, a UN report says. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said land used for opium had risen by 17% this year, from nearly 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) to 51,000 hectares. Burma is the second largest opium grower in the world after Afghanistan. Almost all of the opium it produces is grown in Shan and Kachin states, which have seen longstanding conflict between the military and ethnic rebel groups.

'Toxic combination'

Citing figures from the Burmese government, the report said almost 24,000 hectares of poppy fields had been eradicated in 2012 - about four times the figure in 2011. Gary Lewis, UNODC representative in South East Asia, said the situation on the ground was "very complex". In areas where opium was grown, there was ''a toxic combination of guns, money and drugs'', he said. The army and rebel fighters often profit from allowing the trade to continue. Farmers, meanwhile, say the instability means they have little choice but to continue growing the lucrative poppy plant - which is used to make heroin. Burma accounts for 25% of opium grown in the world, while Laos accounts for 3%, said the report, entitled the South East Asia Opium Survey 2012.

In Laos, land used to grow opium increased almost four-fold between 2007 and 2012 to 6,300 hectares. The recent rise contrasts with the situation from 1998 to 2006, when both Burma and Laos saw big drops - with an 83% reduction in the case of Burma. Most of Burma's opium is refined into heroin - about half goes to meet the growing market in China, with the rest being sold across South East Asia. Part of the reason for the sustained growth in the cultivation of this crop is the demand for heroin in Asia, said the report.

But the good news, in the case of Burma, was that there was now ''momentum to find the solution'', Mr Lewis said. There is support from President Thein Sein's government, which has embarked on a series of reforms. Ceasefires and political opening up also meant that international organisations such as the UN now have better access to the areas. The Golden Triangle - where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet - has been notorious for opium and drug smuggling for decades.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20150082

Captain Obvious
10-31-2012, 05:37 PM
Ethnic/religious conflict needs a source for funding.

Unfortunately, we pay that bill for the most part also.