This modelling project examines the short-run effects of a program wherein the United States becomes the primary buyer of opium produced in Afghanistan and thereby reduces the global supply of heroin (refined opium). This research demonstrates that supply-side intervention will result in a large decrease in short-run world heroin supply, as well as many beneficial side effects. The U.S. heroin ...

Studies concerning drugs of abuse have made major contributions in defining the circuitry, as well as cellular and molecular substrates that underlie certain behaviors. Opiate drugs for example, have revealed important insights concerning pain perception and reward. Up to the late 1960s, opiate drugs were suspected to work by mysteriously perturbing lipid membrane structure. We now know the fol...

abstract benzylisoquinoline alkaloids are a diverse group of nitrogenous compounds which is found in about 20% of plant species. isolation of effective genes involved in morphine biosynthesis of opium poppy is very important in the production of specific which can be achieved using metabolic engineering techniques. in this biosynthesis pathway, the key enzyme sat is involved in the conversion o...

As a secondary metabolite produced by opium poppy ( Papaver somniferum ), morphine is valuable subject for research and application purposes within the medical field. Thanks to conducted throughout past few decades, main pathway biosynthesis of has been thoroughly elucidated. In addition, whole genome sequencing evolutionary genomics have provided us with crucial information regarding specific ...

Over the course of human history, it has been common to use plants for medicinal purposes, such as for providing relief from particular maladies and self-medication. Opium represents one longstanding remedy that has been used to address a range of medical conditions, alleviating discomfort often in ways that have proven pleasurable. Opium is a combination of compounds obtained from the mature f...

A survey on opium use was earned out in Tinsukia district of upper Assam to assess the present prevalence and pattern of opium abuse and compared with earlier findings of the year 1981 (Baruah et al., 1995). A total of 75 addicts could be detected during the survey and 61 were interviewed using structured questionnaire. The results indicate significant decline in prevalence in opium use over th...

Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, there has been an overall increase in illicit opium production in Afghanistan and mounting human losses. The United Nations has attributed 1 million human deaths to Afghan opiates over the past decade. As the war in Afghanistan nears a crucial mark, the NATO coalition forces and Afghan people can no longer afford the same ineffective counternarcotics ...