Description Germplasm Distribution Ecology Cultivation Harvesting Yields and Economics Energy Biotic Factors References Uses Opium is the air-dried milky exudation obtained from excised unripe fruits. It is extensively smoked as an intoxicant. Commercial products are called Turkey Opium, Indian Opium, Persian Opium, Chinese Opium, and Egyptian Opium, and they differ in appearance and quality. Opium is largely used for manufacture of morphine, codeine, narcotine, laudenine, papaverine, and many other alkaloids. It is also the source of the toxic and extremely habitforming narcotic heroin or dimorphine, prohibited in some countries.
Seeds contain no opium and are used extensively in baking and sprinkling on rolls and bread.
Seeds are a good source of energy. They are also the source of a drying-oil, used for manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps, and in foods and salad dressing. Oil cake is a good fodder for cattle. Stems used for straw. Lecithin has been extracted from poppy seed meal.