It takes some daring to choose opium as your historical protagonist. The milky sap of the poppy flower has taken so many forms across so many centuries that its allure feels like a trap, a chasing of ...

Opium is a highly addictive drug. It’s made from juice extracted from the unripe seed pods of opium poppy plants (the scientific name is Papaver somniferum). Opium is used to make a class of drugs ...