the.com/opium

The poppy's way of telling your nervous system a very convincing lie.

means A narcotic drug made from the dried latex of the opium poppy, used medically as a painkiller and recreationally as a highly addictive intoxicant.

from From Latin opium, from Greek ópion, meaning 'poppy juice' — itself a diminutive of opós, 'vegetable juice' or 'sap.' The word traveled with the substance itself along ancient trade routes, from Greek physicians and traders through Arabic (afyūn) and into medieval Latin and English, carrying the same simple, literal meaning the whole way: the juice of the poppy.

source
latex scraped from unripe poppy seed pods
active compound
morphine, named after Morpheus, god of dreams
history
traded empires into wars, literally two of them
modern legacy
parent of heroin, codeine, and oxycodone
the.com · every word