A well-known plant, especially in the world of drug dealers, papaver somniferum has the ability to produce a magnetic and euphoric in our brain when mixed with water or smoked. Based on the plant, such drugs as opium, heroin, morphine, and fentanyl are produced. The number of American citizens taking opioids rapidly increases along with the number of overdose deaths. The era of this painkiller has only started and according to diverse predictions, it is going to be a period of darkness and addiction.
Drugs produce euphoric effects on the human body, however, their strength, intensiveness, and type vary depending on the painkiller. Although the majority believes that opioids are taken only for immoral and reckless reasons, people usually take the “medicine” consciously and for particular reasons such as increasing the level of happiness even temporarily. The papaver somniferum plant contains alkaloids that produce in the brain the same effect as orgasm, love, and friendship, therefore it can reduce physical, psychological, and existential pain.
Many writers described opium in their works as the greatest feature that could ever happen to them and paid a lot of attention to the significant effects the drug produces on their mental state. Their statements are entirely true, except for the fact that this “helper” leads the human body to physical and mental degradation. Additionally, in comparison with such drugs as cocaine or cannabis, the papaver somniferum creation is rather sleep-inducing. Opioids are stronger than other drugs as well, hence the withdrawal brings weeks of agony to the former addict. This is a reason many people want to quit but cannot manage the level of pain that they need to overcome during the intoxication period.
According to various estimations and analyses, opioids were more popular and ubiquitous in the 19th century than tobacco at the end of the 20th. Many public figures, such as Benjamin Franklin were users, and it is assumed that the Second World War and the Civil War played essential roles in this addiction creation.
The responsibility for creating a country of addicts lies in doctors’ and the government’s actions. For physicians, it was much easier to prescribe the painkiller to reduce all uncomfortable and distracting feelings rather than trying to find a correct diagnosis for each patient. The regulating forces decreased medical support for treatment but increased it for the prescribed medicine, therefore, the majority of patients preferred to constantly take drugs rather than be treated. By that time, the government did not realize that it had created new generations of addicts and propagated drug dealing across the USA.
Heroin and fentanyl are the most dangerous drugs created on the basis of papaver somniferum due to produced effects and the outcomes for the body. For example, ingestion of 0.5 mg of heroin can kill an adult; as a result, since 2013, the number of overdose deaths has increased sixfold. In this case, mass opioid addiction is compared with AIDS as both problems were first underestimated and then caused thousands of inevitable deaths. However, in comparison with painkillers, people are educated and examined on the AIDS issue to prevent the problem, while the drug addiction problem remains without a solution.
According to the “rat park” research, the environment has a crucial impact on addiction predisposition. Such factors as the economic, and social state along with the number of parents and living conditions have a huge effect on the child’s future regarding any kind of addiction. People cannot return to their previous lives without “medications” until social problems are solved. Addictions such as TV, food, and Internet surround the humanity everywhere and the level of drug utilization grows due to loneliness, virtual contact, and lack of communication as well.