noun. the dried up resin of the poppy's unripe seed pods. Opium consists of over 20 alkaloids, the primary one being morphine, that is responsible for most of its pharmacological traits. Natural and synthetic sub-products are ingested orally, smoked, via injection, inhaled and swallowed in liquid forms. Their function, due primarily to their morphine content, is to elicit analgesia and euphoria and generate a heavy, dreamless sleep from which the user can be excited rather simply.
OPIUM: "Many people have suggested that Edgar Allen Poe's creativity was nothing more than a result of his abuse of opium."
Cite this page: N., Pam M.S., "OPIUM," in PsychologyDictionary.org, April 7, 2013, https://psychologydictionary.org/opium/ (accessed October 17, 2021).
