Donald Wigal

Opium has definitely been shown to relieve pain, reduce hunger and thirst, induce restful sleep, and reduce anxiety. However, like other great gifts to mankind, opium can either be of great benefit or be fatal, depending on how, when, and why people use it.

(Eschscholtzia californica) is in fact a wildflower in the buttercup family. It produces no capsule and therefore is not actually a member of the poppy family, albeit at first glance it certainly looks like its capsule-bearing cousin.

opium is a narcotic drug. When it was studied more closely, researchers learned that opium is obtained from the juice of the immature fruits of the Oriental poppy.