Opium consists of the dried milky sap obtained from the pod of the opium poppy, apaver somniferium.
Opium, in its raw form is likely to be contaminated with bacteria and fungi. The only medical use for opium is for diarrhea. Historically, the use of opium in this country has been mostly by persons from Asiatic countries, because of the difficulty of obtaining the raw opium and the time-consuming process of smoking it. Opium perfume has been a successful commercial venture by Squibb, a leading pharmaceutical company in the United States. Squibb's advertisements depict the perfume as mysterious, romantic and sexual.