The notoriety of Papaver somniferum, the “sleep-inducing poppy,” is only partly to do with its outlaw family. Opium poppies are grown for their edible seeds and for pharmaceutical uses. The type that ...

Part 1. Opium in antiquity. The mysterious origins of the opium poppy ; Papyruses and poppies ; A journey around the Mediterranean. Part 2. Opium and the birth of modern medicine. Classic cures, ...

Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation fell to 10,200 hectares this year, one of the lowest levels recorded in the country's history, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said, but the Taliban ban has ...

Lashkar Gah is the capital of the volatile province that alone grows half of Afghanistan's opium poppy. Cultivation here grew by 34 percent over last year. On Fridays, hundreds of men gather at the ...