History of poppy A Presentation By Mr Allah Dad khan Former Director General Agriculture Extension KPK Province and Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

1. History Of Poppy
Throughout world
By
Mr Allah Dad Khan

2. History of Poppy
The professor, based at the University of Valladolid in Spain, said evidence of
opium poppy farming has been found at La Marmotta, about 20 miles north west
of Rome in Italy, a site occupied by Neolithic farmers around 6,000BC.

3. History
Traces of an opium poppy capsule were found on the teeth of a male skeleton
buried at cave near Albuñol, Granada that dates back to around 4,000 BC.

5. The Origins of Opium
The earliest reference to opium growth and use is in
3,400 B.C. when the opium poppy was cultivated in
lower Mesopotamia (Southwest Asia). The Sumerians
referred to it as Hul Gil, the "joy plant." The Sumerians
soon passed it on to the Assyrians, who in turn passed it
on to the Egyptians. As people learned of the power of
opium, demand for it increased. Many countries began
to grow and process opium to expand its availability and
to decrease its cost. Its cultivation spread along the Silk
Road, from the Mediterranean through Asia and finally to
China where it was the catalyst for the Opium Wars of
the mid-1800s.

6. From Seed to Sale
Today, heroin’s long journey to drug addicts begins with the planting of opium
poppy seeds. Opium is grown mainly by impoverished farmers on small plots in
remote regions of the world. It flourishes in dry, warm climates and the vast
majority of opium poppies are grown in a narrow, 4,500-mile stretch of
mountains extending across central Asia from Turkey through Pakistan and
Burma. Recently, opium has been grown in Latin America, notably Colombia and
Mexico. The farmer takes his crop of opium to the nearest village where he will
sell it to the dealer who offers him the best price.

7. The Silk Road
The Silk Road is an 18th-century term
for a series of interconnected routes
that ran from Europe to China. These
trade routes developed between the
empires of Persia and Syria on the
Mediterranean coast and the Indian
kingdoms of the East. By the late
Middle Ages the routes extended from
Italy in the West to China in the East
and to Scandinavia in the North.
Opium was one of the products traded
along the Silk Road.

8. Opium Wars
 In order to fund their ever-
increasing desire for Chinese
produced tea, Britain, through
their control of the East India
Company, began smuggling Indian
opium to China. This resulted in a
soaring addiction rate among the
Chinese and led to the Opium Wars
of the mid-1800s. Subsequent
Chinese immigration to work on
the railroads and the gold rush
brought opium smoking to America.

9. Opium Dens
Opium dens were established as sites
to buy and sell opium. Dens were
commonly found in China, Southeast
Asia, the United States, and parts of
Europe. Chinese immigrants came to
the United States in the Mid-1800s to
work for railroads and the Gold Rush
and brought the habit of opium
smoking with them. Opium dens
sprang up in San Francisco's Chinatown
and spread eastward to New York.

10. Chinese Style Opium Pipes
This antique opium pipe set, ca. 1821,
highlights the exquisite details that
could be afforded by rich Chinese
opium smokers.

11. Opium Smoking Equipment
In addition to the traditional pipe,
opium smokers could also use a lamp
for heating the opium as well as
various tools to manipulate the
gummy substance.

12. Weights and Scales
 These scales and the elephant-
shaped gold weights were used to
accurately measure opium for sale.