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opium
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Opium Two Afghan workers harvest resin from scored green poppy pods in an opium poppy field, with mountains visible in the background.
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Opium
Opium Opioid drugs are derived from or mimic substances that occur naturally in the opium poppy, including raw opium.

opium

drug
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opium, narcotic drug that is obtained from the unripe seedpods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), a plant of the family Papaveraceae. (See poppy.) Opium is obtained by slightly incising the seed capsules of the poppy after the plant’s flower petals have fallen. The slit seedpods exude a milky latex that coagulates and changes colour, turning into a gumlike brown mass upon exposure to air. This raw opium may be ground into a powder, sold...

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