- How do psychoactive drugs affect our body? What are the three classes of psychoactive drugs? Give an example for each.
- Define narcotic. What actions on the body identify psychoactive drugs as addictive? What is the active compound in most psychoactive plants?
- Which part of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) plant is related to crude opium? How was the opium poppy used by ancient Babylonian and Egypt?
- Describe laudanum. Which famous doctor used it on his patients and what other historical figures used it?
- Besides as a drug how else is the poppy plant used?
- Identify the two most important alkaloids in opium. How are morphine and codeine used today? Why must these alkaloids be sold only with a prescription? How is morphine use tied to the Civil War?
- How is heroin produced? What was an early medicinal use of heroin and which company introduced this use?
- What country is the largest legal grower of opium poppies for heroin use? Which countries grow the most illicit opium poppy plants? What two countries supply most of the heroin to the United States?
- What plant is the source of Marijuana? What substance is the source of its hallucinogenic active compounds? What is hashish and what legend is associated with it?
- Describe the device for using marijuana popularized by the Muslims.
- How is Napoleon connected to marijuana use? How was marijuana introduced into the US and what groups popularized its use?
- From what plant do we obtain cocaine and where is it native to? Describe the ways socially and economically the Incas used cocaine. How did the Spanish conquest change Incan life?
- Which historical figures are connected with cocaine use? What early beverage is associated with cocaine in the U.S. and who invented it?
- Describe the ways cocaine can be harmful and potentially fatal. How are coca leaves used today by people living in the Andes mountains?
- Describe peyote. What are buttons and how are they used? What is mescaline and what do people experience when they ingest it? How do Native Americans use it?
