Opium is the name for the latex produced within the seed pods of the
opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. The plant is believed to have evolved from a
wild strain, Papaver setigerum, which grows in coastal areas of the
Mediterranean Sea. Through centuries of cultivation and breeding for opium, the
species somniferum evolved. Today, P. somniferum is the only species of Papaver
used to produce opium. Opium contains morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine,
and thebaine. All but thebaine are used clinically as analgesics to reduce pain
without a loss of consciousness. Thebaine is without analgesic effect but is of
great pharmaceutical value due to its use in the production of semisynthetic
opioid morphine analogues such as oxycodone (Percodan), dihydromorphenone
(Dilaudid), and hydrocodone (Vicodin).
The psychological effects of
opium may have been known to the ancient Sumerians (circa 4,000 B.C.) whose
symbol for poppy was hul, "joy" and gil, "plant". The plant was known in Europe
at least 4,000 years ago as evidenced by fossil remains of poppy seed cake and
poppy pods found in the Neolithic Swiss Lake Dwellings. Opium was probably
consumed by the ancient Egyptians and was known to the Greeks as well. Our word
opium is derived from the Greek. The poppy is also referred to in Homer's works
the Iliad and the Odyssey (850 B.C.). Hippocrates (460-357 B.C.) prescribed
drinking the juice of the white poppy mixed with the seed of nettle.
The
opium poppy probably reached China about the fourth century A.D. through Arab
traders who advocated its use for medicinal purposes. In Chinese literature,
there are earlier references to its use. The noted Chinese surgeon Hua To of the
Three Kingdoms (220-264 A.D.) used opium preparations and Cannabis indica for
his patients to swallow before undergoing major surgery.
The beginning
of widespread opium use in China is associated with the introduction of tobacco
smoking in pipes by Dutch from Java in the 17th century. The Chinese mixed
Indian opium with the tobacco, two products that were being traded by the Dutch.
This practice was adopted throughout the region and predictably resulted in
increased opium smoking, both with and without tobacco.
By the
late-1700s the British East India Company controlled the prime Indian poppy
growing regions and dominated the Asian opium trade. By 1800, they had a
monopoly on opium; controlling supply and setting prices.
In 1805, the
German pharmacist Friedrich W. Serturner isolated and described the principal
alkaloid and powerful active ingredient in opium. He named it morphium after
Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. We know it today as morphine. This event was
soon followed by the discovery of other alkaloids of opium: codeine in 1832 and
papaverine in 1848. By the 1850s these pure alkaloids, rather than the earlier
crude opium preparations, were being commonly prescribed for the relief of pain,
cough, and diarrhea. This period also saw the invention and introduction of the
hypodermic syringe.
By the late eighteenth century opium was being
heavily used in China as a recreational drug. The Imperial court had banned its
use and importation but large quantities were still being smuggled into China.
In 1839 the Qing Emperor ordered his minister Lin Zexu to address the opium
problem. Lin petitioned Queen Victoria for help but was ignored. In reaction,
the emperor confiscated 20,000 barrels of opium and detained some foreign
traders. The British retaliated by attacking the port city of Canton. Thus the
First Opium War began. The Chinese were defeated and the Treaty of Nanjing was
signed in 1842. The British required that the opium trade be allowed to
continue, that the Chinese pay a large settlement, and that the Chinese cede
Hongkong to the British Empire. The Second Opium War began and ended in 1856
over western demands that opium markets be expanded. The Chinese were again
defeated and opium importation to China was legalized.
In the United
States during the 19th century, opium preparations and 'patent medicines'
containing opium extract such as paregoric (camphorated tincture of opium) and
laudanum (deodorized opium tincture) became widely available and quite popular.
In the 1860s morphine was used extensively pre- and post-operatively as a
painkiller for wounded soldiers during the Civil War. Civil War physicians
frequently dispensed opiates. In 1866 the Secretary of War stated that during
the war the Union Army was issued 10 million opium pills, over 2,840,000 ounces
of other opiate preparations (such as laudanum or paregoric), and almost 30,000
ounces of morphine sulphate. The inevitable result was opium addiction, called
the 'army disease' or the 'soldier's disease.' These opium and morphine
addiction problems prompted a scientific search for potent but nonaddictive
painkillers. In the 1870s, chemists synthesized a supposedly non-addictive,
substitute for morphine by acetylating morphine. In 1898 the Bayer
pharmaceutical company of Germany was the first to make available this new drug,
3,6-diacetylmorphine, in large quantities under the trademarked brand name
Heroin. 3,6-diacetylmorphine is two to three times more potent than morphine.
Most of the increase is due to its increased lipid solubility, which provides
enhanced and rapid central nervous system penetration.
Heroin was
initially used with much success as a superior cough suppressant for patients
with (then incurable) tuberculosis. Tuberculosis patients continued to die, but
without the tortuous coughing and pain. A second use of heroin was to combat
morphine addiction - just as morphine was originally used to combat opium
addiction. Soon after its introduction, however, Heroin was recognized as having
narcotic and addictive properties far exceeding those of morphine.
In
December 1914, the United States Congress passed the Harrison Narcotics Act
which called for control of each phase of the preparation and distribution of
medicinal opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, and any new derivative that could be
shown to have similar properties. It made illegal the possession of these
controlled substances. The restrictions in the Harrison Act were most recently
redefined by the Federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The Act lists as a
Schedule II Controlled Substance opium and its derivatives and all parts of
the P. somniferum plant except the seed.
The first period of large scale
heroin smuggling into the United States since its prohibition occurred during
the years 1967 through 1971. Turkish opium was processed into heroin in France
and then smuggled into New York.
In the mid-1970s Mexican brown heroin
appeared. It was sold at a lower price than European heroin and became readily
available in the West and Midwest. By the mid-1980s the U.S. heroin market was
being supplied from three regions: Mexico, Southwest Asia (Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Turkey, Lebanon), and Southeast Asia (Burma, Laos, Thailand). Soon
thereafter, South American heroin from Columbia appeared.
In 1997,
Southeast Asia still accounts for well over half of the world's opium
production. It is estimated that the region has the capacity to produce over 200
metric tons of heroin annually. Although much of it is consumed in Asia,
thousands of kilograms of Southeast Asian heroin enter the United States each
year.
The chemical structure of opiates is very similar to that of
naturally produced compounds called endorphins and enkephalins. These compounds
are derived from an amino acid pituitary hormone called beta-lipotropin which
when released is cleaved to form met-enkephalin, gamma-endorphin, and
beta-endorphin. Opiate molecules, due to their similar structure, engage many of
the endorphins' nerve-receptor sites in the brain's pleasure centers and bring
about similar analgesic effects. In the human body, a pain stimulus usually
exites an immediate protective reaction followed by the release of endorphins to
relieve discomfort and reward the mental learning process. Opiates mimic high
levels of endorphins to produce intense euphoria and a heightened state of
well-being. Regular use results in increased tolerance and the need for greater
quantities of the drug. Profound physical and psychological dependence results
from regular use and rapid cessation brings about withdrawal sickness.
In addition to the pleasure/pain centers, there is also a concentration
of opiate receptors in the respiratory center of the brain. Opiates have an
inhibiting effect on these cells and in the case of an overdose, respiration can
come to a complete halt. Opiates also inhibit sensitivity to the impulse to
cough.
A third location for these receptors is in the brain's vomiting
center. Opiate use causes nausea and vomiting. Tolerance for this effect is
built up very quickly. Opiates effect the digestive system by inhibiting
intestinal peristalsis. Long before they were used as painkillers, opiates were
used to control diarrhea.
The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an
annual plant. From a very small round seed, it grows, flowers, and bears fruit
(seed pods) only once. The entire growth cycle for most varieties of this plant
takes about 120 days. The seeds of P. somniferum can be distinguished from other
species by the appearance of a fine secondary fishnet reticulation within the
spaces of the coarse reticulation found all over their surface. When compared
with other Papaver species, P. somniferum plants will have their leaves arranged
along the stem of the plant, rather than basal leaves, and the leaves and stem
will be 'glabrous' (hairless). The tiny seeds germinate quickly, given warmth
and sufficient moisture. Sprouts appear in fourteen to twenty-one days. In less
than six weeks the young plant has grown four large leaves and resembles a small
cabbage in appearance. The lobed, dentate leaves are glaucous green with a dull
gray or blue tint.
Within sixty days, the plant will grow from one to
two feet in height, with one primary, long, smooth stem. The upper portion of
this stem is without leaves and is the 'peduncle'. One or more secondary stems,
called 'tillers', may grow from the main stem of the plant. Single poppy plants
in Southeast Asia often have one or more tillers.
As the plant grows
tall, the main stem and each tiller terminates in a flower bud. During the
development of the bud, the peduncle portion of the stem elongates and forms a
distinctive 'hook' which causes the bud to be turned upside down. As the flower
develops, the peduncle straightens and the buds point upward. A day or two after
the buds first point upward, the two outer segments of the bud, called 'sepals,'
fall away, exposing the flower petals.
Opium poppies generally flower
after about ninety days of growth and continue to flower for two to three weeks.
The exposed flower blossom is at first crushed and crinkled, but the petals soon
expand and become smooth in the sun. Opium poppy flowers have four petals. The
petals may be single or double and may be white, pink, reddish purple, crimson
red, or variegated. The petals last for two to four days and then drop to reveal
a small, round, green fruit which continues to develop. These fruits or pods
(also called 'seedpods', 'capsules,' 'bulbs,' or 'poppy heads') are either
oblate, elongated, or globular and mature to about the size of a chicken egg.
The oblate-shaped pods are more common in Southeast Asia.
The main stem
of a fully-matured P. somniferum plant can range between two to five feet in
height. The green leaves are oblong, toothed and lobed and are between four to
fifteen inches in diameter at maturity. The mature leaves have no commercial
value except for use as animal fodder.
Only the pod portion of the plant
can produce opium alkaloids. The skin of the poppy pod encloses the wall of the
pod ovary. The ovary wall consists of an outer, middle, and inner layer. The
plant's latex (opium) is produced within the ovary wall and drains into the
middle layer through a system of vessels and tubes within the pod. The cells of
the middle layer secrete more than 95 percent of the opium when the pod is
scored and harvested.
Cultivators in Mainland Southeast Asia tap the
opium from each pod while it remains on the plant. After the opium is scraped,
the pods are cut from the stem and allowed to dry. Once dry, the pods are cut
open and the seeds are removed and dried in the sun before storing for the
following year's planting. An alternative method of collecting planting seeds is
to collect them from intentionally unscored pods, because scoring may diminish
the quality of the seeds. Aside from being used as planting seed, the poppy
seeds may also be used in cooking and in the manufacture of paints and perfumes.
Poppy seed oil is straw-yellow in color, odorless, and has a pleasant,
almond-like taste. The opium poppy grows best in temperate, warm climates with
low humidity. It requires only a moderate amount of water before and during the
early stages of growth. In addition, it is a 'long day' photo-responsive plant.
As such, it requires long days and short nights before it will develop flowers.
The opium poppy plant can be grown in a variety of soils; clay, sandy loam,
sandy, and sandy clay, but it responds best to sandy loam soil. This type of
soil has good moisture-retentive and nutrient-retentive properties, is easily
cultivated, and has a favorable structure for root development. Clay soil types
are hard and difficult to pulverize into a good soil texture. The roots of a
young poppy plant cannot readily penetrate clay soils, and growth is inhibited.
Sandy soil, by contrast, does not retain sufficient water or nutrients for
proper growth of the plant.
Excessive moisture or extremely arid
conditions will adversely affect the poppy plant's growth and reduce the
alkaloid content. Poppy plants can become waterlogged and die after a heavy
rainfall in poorly drained soil. Heavy rainfall in the second and third months
of growth can leach alkaloids from the plant and spoil the opium harvest. Dull,
rainy, or cloudy weather during this critical growth period may reduce both the
quantity and the quality of the alkaloid content.
Opium poppies were
widely grown as an ornamental plant and for seeds in the United States until the
possession of this plant was declared illegal in the Opium Poppy Control Act of
1942. New generations of plants from the self-sown seed of these original
poppies can still be seen in many old ornamental gardens.
The major
legal opium poppy growing areas in the world today are in govemment-regulated
opium farms in lndia, Turkey and Tasmania, Australia. The major illegal growing
areas are in the highlands of Mainland Southeast Asia, specifically Burma
(Myanmar), Laos, and Thailand, as well as the adjacent areas of southern China
and northwestern Vietnam. The area is known as the 'Golden Triangle'. In
Southwest Asia, opium poppies are grown in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
Opium poppy is also grown in Lebanon, Guatemala, Colombia and Mexico.
The highlands of Mainland Southeast Asia, at elevations of 800 meters or
more above sea level, are prime poppy growing areas. Generally speaking, these
poppy-farming areas do not require irrigation, fertilizer, or insecticides for
successful opium yields.
Most of the opium poppies of Southeast Asia are
grown in Burma (Myamnar), specifically in the Wa and Kokang areas which are in
the northeastern quadrant of the Shan State of Burma. Laos is the second-largest
illicit opium-producing country in Southeast Asia and third-largest in the
world.
In Laos, poppy is cultivated extensively in Houaphan and
Xiangkhoang Provinces, as well as the six other northern provinces: Bokeo,
Louangnamtha, Louangphabang, Oudomxai, Phongsali and Xaignabouli. Poppy is also
grown in many of the remote, mountainous areas of northern Thailand,
particularly in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan and Tak Provinces.
In China, opium poppies are cultivated by ethnic minority groups in the
mountainous frontier regions of Yunnan Province, particularly along the border
area with Burma's Kachin and Shan States. Son La Province, situated between
China and Laos, is a major opium poppy cultivation area in Vietnam, as are Lai
Chau and Nghe An Provinces.
It is noteworthy that the dominant ethnic
groups of Mainland Southeast Asia are not poppy cultivators. The Burmans and
Shan of Burma, the Lao of Laos, the Thai of Thailand, the Han Chinese of Yunnan,
China, and the Vietnamese of Vietnam are lowlanders and do not traditionally
cultivate opium poppies. Rather, it is the ethnic minority highlander groups,
such as the Wa, Pa-0, Palaung, Lahu, Lisu, Hmong, and Akha who grow poppies in
the highlands of the countries of Southeast Asia.
A typical nuclear
family of Mainland Southeast Asian highlanders ranges between five and ten
persons, including two to five adults. An average household of poppy farmers can
cultivate and harvest about one acre of opium poppy per year. Most of the better
fields can support opium poppy cultivation for ten years or more without
fertilization, irrigation, or insecticides, before the soil is depleted and new
fields must be cleared. In choosing a field to grow opium poppy, soil quality
and acidity are critical factors and experienced poppy farmers choose their
fields carefully. In Southeast Asia, westerly orientations are typically
preferred to optimize sun exposure. Most fields are on mountain slopes at
elevations of 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) or more above sea level. Slope gradients
of 20 degrees to 40 degrees are considered best for drainage of rain water.
In Mainland Southeast Asia, virgin land is prepared by cutting and
piling all brush, vines and small trees in the field during March, at the end of
the dry season. After allowing the brush to dry in the hot sun for several days,
the field is set afire. This method, called 'slash-and burn' or 'swidden'
agriculture, is commonly practiced by dry field farmers - both highland and
lowland - throughout Mainland Southeast Asia in order to ready the land for a
variety of field crops. The slash-and-burn method is also used to clear fields
for poppy cultivation. Before the rainy season in April, fields by the hundreds
of thousands all over the region are set ablaze. A fog-like yellow haze hangs
over the area for weeks, reducing visibility for hundreds of miles. In the
mountains, the dense haze blocks out the sun and stings the eyes.
A
typical highlander family will plant an area of two or three rai in opium poppy
(2.53 rai is equivalent to one acre). In August or September, toward the end of
the rainy season, highland farmers in Southeast Asia prepare fields selected for
opium poppy planting. By this time, the ash resulting from the burn-off of the
previous dry season has settled into the soil, providing additional nutrients,
especially potash. The soil is turned with long-handled hoes after it is
softened by the rains. The farmers then break up the large clumps of soil. Weeds
and stones are tossed aside and the ground is leveled off.
Traditionally, most highland and upland farmers in Southeast Asia do not
use fertilizer for any of their crops, including the opium poppy, but in recent
years opium poppy farmers have started using both natural and chemical
fertilizers to increase opium poppy yields. Chicken manure, human feces or the
regions' abundant bat droppings are often mixed into the planting soil before
the opium poppy seed is planted.
The planting must be completed by the
end of October in order to take advantage of the region's 'long days' in
November and December.
The opium poppy seed can be sown several ways:
broadcast (tossed by hand); or fix-dropped by hand into shallow holes dug with a
metal-tipped dibble stick. About one pound of opium poppy seed is needed to sow
one acre of land. The seeds may be white, yellow, coffee-color, gray, black, or
blue. Seed color is not related to the color of the flower petals. Beans,
cabbages, cotton, parsley, spinach, squash and tobacco are crops typically
planted with the opium poppy. These crops neither help nor hinder the
cultivation of the opium poppy, but are planted for personal consumption or as a
cash crop.
In the highlands of Southeast Asia, it is a common practice
to plant maize and opium poppies in the same fields each year. The maize keeps
down excessive weeds and provides feed for the farmer's pigs and ponies. It is
grown from April to August. After harvesting the maize, and with the stalks
still standing in the fields, the ground is weeded and pulverized. Just before
the end of the rainy season, in successive sowings throughout September and
October, the poppy seed is broadcast among the maize stalks. These stalks can
protect young opium poppy plants from heavy rains.
The opium poppy
plants form leaves in the first growth stage, called the 'cabbage' or 'lettuce'
stage. After a month of growth, when the opium poppy is about a foot high, some
of the plants are removed (called 'thinning') to allow the other plants more
room to grow. The ideal spacing between plants is believed to be 20 to 40
centimeters, or about eight to twelve plants per square meter, although some
researchers in northern Thailand have reported as many as 18 plants per square
meter.
During the first two months, the opium poppies may be damaged or
stunted by nature through the lack of adequate sunshine, excessive rainfall,
insects, worms, hail storms, early frost, or trampling by animals. The third
month of growth does not require as much care as the first two months. Three to
four months after planting, from late December to early February, the opium
poppies are in full bloom. Mature plants range between three to five feet in
height. Most opium poppy varieties in Southeast Asia produce three to five
mature pods per plant. A typical opium poppy field has 60,000 to 120,000 poppy
plants per hectare, with a range of 120,000 to 275,000 opium-producing pods. The
actual opium yield will depend largely on weather conditions and the precautions
taken by individual farmers to safeguard the crop. The farmer and his family
generally move into the field for the final two weeks, setting up a small field
hut on the edge of the opium poppy field.
The scoring of the pods (also
called 'lancing,' 'incising,' or 'tapping') begins about two weeks after the
flower petals fall from the pods. The farmer examines the pod and the tiny crown
portion on the top of the pod very carefully before scoring.
The
grayish-green pod will become a dark green color as it matures and it will swell
in size. If the points of the pod's crown are standing straight out or are
curved upward, the pod is ready to be scored. If the crown's points turn
downward, the pod is not yet fully matured. Not all the plants in a field will
be ready for scoring at the same time and each pod can be tapped more than once.
A set of three or four small blades of iron, glass, or glass splinters
bound tightly together on a wooden handle is used to score two or three sides of
the pod in a vertical direction. If the blades cut too deep into the wall of the
pod, the opium will flow too quickly and will drip to the ground. If the
incisions are too shallow, the flow will be too slow and the opium will harden
in the pods. A depth of about one millimeter is desired for the incision.
Using a blade-tool designed to cut to that depth, scoring ideally starts
in late afternoon so the white raw opium latex can ooze out and slowly coagulate
on the surface of the pod overnight. If the scoring begins too early in the
afternoon, the sun will cause the opium to coagulate over the incision and block
the flow. Raw opium oxidizes, darkens and thickens in the cool night air. Early
the next morning, the opium gum is scraped from the surface of the pods with a
short-handled, flat, iron blade three to four inches wide.
Opium
harvesters work their way backwards across the field scoring the lower, mature
pods before the taller pods, in order to avoid brushing up against the sticky
pods. The pods continue to produce opium for several days. Farmers will return
to these plants - sometimes up to five or six times - to gather additional opium
until the pod is totally depleted. The opium is collected in a container which
hangs from the farmer's neck or waist.
The opium yield from a single pod
varies greatly, ranging from 10 to 100 milligrams of opium per pod. The average
yield per pod is about 80 milligrams. The dried opium weight yield per hectare
of poppies ranges from eight to fifteen kilograms.
As the farmers gather
the opium, they will commonly tag the larger or more productive pods with
colored string or yarn. These pods will later be cut from their stems, cut open,
dried in the sun and their seeds used for the following year's planting.
The wet opium gum collected from the pods contains a relatively high
percentage of water and needs to be dried for several days. High-quality raw
opium will be brown (rather than black) in color and will retain its sticky
texture. Experienced opium traders can quickly determine if the opium has been
adulterated with tree sap, sand, or other such materials. Raw opium in Burma,
Laos and Thailand is usually sun-dried, weighed in a standard 1.6 kilogram
quantity (called a 'viss' in Burma; a 'choi' in Laos and Thailand), wrapped in
banana leaf or plastic and then stored until ready to sell, trade, or smoke.
While opium smoking is common among most adult opium poppy farmers, heavy
addiction is generally limited to the older, male farmers. The average yearly
consumption of cooked opium per smoker is estimated to be 1.6 kilograms.
A typical opium poppy farmer household in Southeast Asia will collect 2
to 5 choi or viss (3 to 9 kilograms) of opium from a year's harvest of a
one-acre field. That opium will be dried, wrapped and stacked on a shelf by
February or March. If the opium has been properly dried, it can be stored
indefinitely. Excessive moisture and heat can cause the opium to deteriorate
but, once dried, opium is relatively stable. In fact, as opium dries and becomes
less pliable, its value increases due to the decrease in water weight per
kilogram.
Before opium is smoked, it is usually 'cooked'. Uncooked opium
contains moisture, as well as soil, leaves, twigs, and other impurities which
diminish the quality of the final product. The raw opium collected from the
opium poppy pods is placed in an open cooking pot of boiling water where the
sticky globs of opium alkaloids quickly dissolve. Soil, twigs, plant scrapings,
etc., remain undissolved. The solution is then strained through cheesecloth to
remove these impurities. The clear brown liquid that remains is opium in
solution, sometimes called 'liquid opium'. This liquid is then re-heated over a
low flame until the water is driven off into the air as steam leaving a thick
dark brown paste. This paste is called 'prepared', 'cooked', or 'smoking' opium.
It is dried in the sun until it has a putty-like consistency. The net weight of
the cooked opium is generally only eighty percent that of the original raw
opium. Thus, cooked opium is more pure than its original, raw form, and has a
higher monetary value.
Cooked opium is suitable for smoking or eating by
opium users. Traditionally there is only one group of opium poppy farmers, the
Hmong, who prefer not to cook their opium before smoking. Most other ethnic
groups, including Chinese opium addicts, prefer smoking cooked opium. If the
opium is to be sold to traders for use in morphine or heroin laboratories, it is
not necessary to cook it first. The laboratory operators generally use 55-gallon
oil drums or huge cooking vats to dissolve the raw opium before beginning the
morphine extraction process.
Raw or cooked opium contains more than
thirty-five different alkaloids, including morphine, which accounts for
approximately ten percent of the total raw opium weight. Heroin manufacturers
must first extract the morphine from the opium before converting the morphine to
heroin. The extraction is a simple process, requiring only a few chemicals and a
supply of water. Since the morphine base is about one-tenth the weight and
volume of raw opium, it is desirable to reduce the opium to morphine before
transporting the product any great distance. Morphine is sometimes extracted
from opium in small clandestine 'laboratories' which may be set up near the
opium poppy fields.
The process of extracting morphine from opium
involves dissolving opium in hot water, adding lime to precipitate the
non-morphine alkaloids and then adding ammonium chloride to precipitate the
morphine from the solution. An empty oil drum and some cooking pots are all that
is needed.
The following is a step-by-step description of morphine
extraction in a typical Southeast Asian laboratory:
- An empty
55-gallon oil drum is placed on bricks about a foot above the ground and a fire
is built under the drum. Thirty gallons of water are added to the drum and
brought to a boil. Ten to fifteen kilograms of raw opium are added to the
boiling water.
- With stirring, the raw opium eventually dissolves in
the boiling water, while soil, leaves, twigs, and other non-soluble materials
float in the solution. Most of these materials are scooped out of the clear
brown 'liquid opium' solution.
- Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), or
more often a readily available chemical fertilizer with a high content of lime,
is added to the solution. The lime converts the water insoluble morphine into
the water soluble calcium morphenate. The other opium alkaloids do not react
with the lime to form soluble calcium salts. Codeine is slightly water soluble
and gets carried over with the calcium morphenate in the liquid. For the most
part, the other alkaloids become part of the residual sediment 'sludge' that
comes to rest on the bottom of the oil drum.
- As the solution cools,
and after the insolubles precipitate out, the morphine solution is scooped from
the drum and poured through a filter of some kind. Burlap rice sacks are often
used as filters. They are later squeezed in a press to remove most of the
solution from the wet sacks. The solution is then poured into large cooking pots
and re-heated, but not boiled.
- Ammonium chloride is added to the
heated calcium morphenate solution to adjust the alkalinity to a pH of 8 to 9,
and the solution is then allowed to cool. Within one or two hours, the morphine
base and the unextracted codeine base precipitate out of the solution and settle
to the bottom of the cooking pot.
- The solution is then poured off
through cloth filters. Any solid morphine base chunks in the solution will
remain on the cloth. The morphine base is removed from both the cooking pot and
from the filter cloths, wrapped and squeezed in cloth, and then dried in the
sun. When dry, the crude morphine base is a coffee-colored powder.
- This 'crude' morphine base, commonly known by the Chinese term p'i-tzu
throughout Southeast Asia, may be further purified by dissolving it in
hydrochloric acid, adding activated charcoal, re-heating and re-filtering. The
solution is filtered several more times, and the morphine (morphine
hydrochloride) is then dried in the sun.
- Morphine hydrochloride (still
tainted with codeine hydrochloride) is usually formed into small brick-sized
blocks in a press and wrapped in paper or cloth. The most common block size is 2
inches by 4 inches by 5 inches weighing about 1.3 kilograms (3 lbs). The bricks
are then dried for transport to heroin processing laboratories.
Approximately 13 kilograms of opium, from one hectare of opium poppies,
are needed to produce each morphine block of this size. The morphine blocks are
bundled and packed for transport to heroin laboratories by human couriers or by
pack animals. Pack mules are able to carry 100-kilogram payloads over 200 miles
of rugged mountain trails in less than three weeks.
The conversion of
morphine hydrochloride to heroin base is a relatively simple and inexpensive
procedure. The necessary chemicals are readily available industrial chemicals.
The equipment is very basic and quite portable. Heroin conversion laboratories
are generally located in isolated, rural areas due to the telltale odors of the
lab's chemicals. Acetic anhydride, in particular, is a key chemical with the
easily identified very pungent odor of pickles.
Heroin synthesis is a
two-step process which generally requires twelve to fourteen hours to complete.
Heroin base is the intermediate product. Typically, morphine hydrochloride
bricks are pulverized and the dried powder is then placed in an enamel or
stainless steel rice cooking pot. The liquid acetic anhydride is then added. The
pot lid is tied or clamped on, with a damp towel used for a gasket. The pot is
carefully heated for about two hours, below boiling, at a constant temperature
of 185 degrees Fahrenheit. It is never allowed to boil or to become so hot as to
vent fumes. It is agitated by tilting and swirling until all of the morphine has
dissolved. Acetic anhydride reacts with the morphine to form diacetylmorphine
(heroin). This acetylation process will work either with morphine hydrochloride
or p'i-tzu (crude morphine base).
When cooking is completed, the pot is
cooled and opened. The morphine and the acetic anhydride have now become
chemically bonded, creating an impure form of diacetylmorphine (heroin). Water
is added at three times the volume of acetic anhydride and the mixture is
stirred. Activated charcoal is added and mixed by stirring and the mixture is
then filtered to remove colored impurities. Solids remaining on the filter are
discarded. Sodium carbonate, used at 2.5 pounds per pound of morphine, is
dissolved in hot water and added slowly to the liquid until effervescence stops.
This precipitates the heroin base which is then filtered and dried by heating in
a steam bath for an hour. For each pound of morphine, about 11 ounces of crude
heroin base is formed. The heroin base may be dried, packed and transported to a
heroin refining laboratory or it may be purified further and/or converted to
heroin hydrochloride, a water-soluble salt form of heroin, at the same site.
Southeast Asian heroin base is an intermediate product which can be
further converted to either a smoking form (Heroin No. 3) or an injectable form
(Heroin No. 4).
(Smoking Heroin, heroin hydrochloride)
To make
heroin No. 3, the crude base is mixed with hydrochloric acid resulting in heroin
hydrochloride. Adulterants including caffeine are added after this conversion.
For each kilogram of crude heroin base about one kilogram of caffeine is used.
Various 'flavorings' such as quinine hydrochloride or strychnine hydrochloride
may be added in 7 gram or 14 gram increments. Next, the wet paste mix is stirred
to dryness over the steam bath. The resulting dry Heroin No. 3 will be in the
form of coarse lumps. These are crushed and passed through a #8 to #10 mesh
sieve, and the grains (pieces) are then packaged for sale. The entire process
takes about eight hours and requires only minimal skill. While extra attention
to stirring is required to assure dryness, one man can prepare a one-kilogram
block of Heroin No. 3 during this time.
(Injectable Heroin)
To
the heroin base mixture in the pot, water is added at three times the volume of
acetic anydride and mixed by stirring. A small amount of chloroform is added.
The mixture is stirred and then allowed to stand for twenty minutes. Doing so
precipitates highly-colored impurities and a red, greasy liquid. The water layer
is carefully poured off and saved in a clean pot, leaving the red grease in the
pot. In a clean pot, activated charcoal is stirred into the aqueous solution and
is filtered to remove solid impurities. The decolorizing effects of the
charcoal, combined with the chloroform treatment, will leave a light yellow
solution. The use of charcoal is repeated one or more times, until the solution
is colorless.
Approximately 1.1 kilograms of sodium carbonate per 0.5
kilogram of morphine is dissolved in hot water and added slowly to the mixture
until the effervescence stops. This precipitates the heroin base which is then
filtered and dried by heating on a steam bath. The heroin base is heated until
dryness is complete, an imperative for the preparation of Heroin No.4. The
powder should be very white at this stage. If not white, the base is redissolved
in diluted acid, treated repeatedly with activated charcoal, reprecipitated and
dried. The ultimate purity and color of the resulting heroin hydrochloride
depends largely on the quality of the heroin base.
The following
optional steps are sometimes taken by skilled heroin chemists to increase
quality.
For each pound of heroin base 1,100 milliliters of ethyl
alcohol is heated to boiling. The heroin base is added and stirred until
completely dissolved. The heated solution is then quickly filtered through a
Büchner funnel that has been preheated and poured into a heated flask. This hot
filtration removes the traces of sodium carbonate that remained in the base. The
solution is quickly cooled in an ice bath, where it becomes very thick; like ice
cream. The substance is put into a pan and set in a large refrigerator. A fan is
set to blow across the pan to cause slow evaporation of the alcohol while the
paste crystallizes. After several hours, it is vacuum-filtered. The filtrate,
pure ethyl alcohol, is re-used. The solid material, 'alcohol morphine base', is
actually recrystallized heroin base.
The heroin product, either heroin
base or recrystallized heroin base, is weighed. For each pound of solid product,
3,000 milliliters of ethyl alcohol, 3,000 milliliters of ether, and 102
milliliters of concentrated hydrochloric acid are measured out. The solid is
dissolved by heating with one-third of the alcohol and one-half of the acid.
Another one-third of the acid is added and mixed by stirring. Next, acid is
added slowly, drop by drop, until the product is completely converted to the
hydrochloride. Two methods of testing this end product may be used. Either a
drop of solution evaporates on a clean glass plate, leaving no trace of
cloudiness in the residue, or a drop of the solution placed on Congo red paper
causes the paper to turn blue.
Once the acid is added, the remaining
alcohol is stirred in. Half of the ether is then added with stirring and the
mixture is allowed to stand for fifteen minutes. It must be examined with great
care since it is extremely volatile and flammable. Once the first small crystals
are detected, the remaining ether is added at once. The vessel is stirred,
covered and allowed to stand for twenty minutes to one hour. The mixture becomes
nearly solid after an hour. At this point, it is filtered and the solids are
collected on clean filter paper. The paper is wrapped around the crystals and
placed on wooden trays, usually over lime rock, to dry. When the crystals of
pure heroin hydrochloride are dry, they are packaged. Batches of 5 to 10
kilograms are commonly made at one time, the largest batch being an estimated 20
kilograms.
Chemicals used to isolate morphine from opium include
ammonium chloride, calcium carbonate (limestone), and calcium hydroxide (slaked
lime). The precursor chemical normally used in the conversion of morphine to
heroin is acetic anhydride. Chemical reagents used in the conversion process
include sodium carbonate and activated charcoal. Chemical solvents needed are
chloroform, ethyl alcohol (ethanol), ethyl ether and acetone. Other chemicals
may be substituted for these preferred chemicals, but most or all of these
preferred chemicals are readily available through smugglers and suppliers.
Necessary laboratory equipment includes measuring cups, funnels, filter
paper, litmus paper and a stainless steel pot. Only the most sophisticated
heroin labs use glass flasks, propane gas ovens, Bunsen burners, vacuum pumps,
autoclaves, electric blenders, venting hoods, centrifuges, reflux condensers,
electric drying ovens and elaborate exhaust systems. Portable, gasoline-powered
generators are often used at clandestine heroin conversion laboratories used to
power various electrical devices.
