Envoy at 18:22, 7 November 2007

2007-11-07T18:22:36Z

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'''Lactucarium''' is the milky fluid secreted by several species of [[lettuce]], especially ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', usually from the base of the stems. Lactucarium is known as lettuce [[opium]] because of its [[sedative]] and [[analgesic]] properties. It has been reported to promote a mild sensation of euphoria, but ''Lactuca virosa'' is poisonous<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lactuca+virosa|title=Plants for a Future: ''Lactuca virosa''|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref>, and at least one fatality has occurred during an attempt to use it for intoxication.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050107.html|title=The Straight Dope|author=Cecil Adams|date=2005-01-07|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Presse Med. 2003 Apr 26;32(15):702-3|title=[Abuse of lactuca virosa] PMID 12762295}}</ref> Because it is a [[latex]], Lactucarium physically resembles opium, in that is excreted as a white fluid and can be reduced to a thick smokeable solid.

{{Infobox Botanical product|product=Lactucarium|plant=''Lactuca'' spp.|part=latex (see also seeds)|origin=southern Europe|uses=analgesic, sleep aid, euphoriant?|price=?|legal=Unregulated herbal supplement}}
==History==
"Lettuce Opium" was used by the Ancient Egyptians, and was introduced as a drug in the United States as early as 1799.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} The drug was prescribed and studied extensively in Poland during the nineteenth century, and was viewed as an alternative to opium, weaker but lacking side-effects, and in some cases preferable. However, early efforts to isolate an active alkaloid were unsuccessful.<ref>PMID 17153150</ref> It is described and standardized in the 1898 [[United States Pharmacopoeia]]<ref name="USP">{{cite web|url=http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca_lact_tinc.html|title=King's American Dispensary:Tinctura Lactucarii (U. S. P.)—Tincture of Lactucarium|author=Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.|year=1898|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref> and 1911 [[British Pharmaceutical Codex]]<ref name="BPC">{{cite web|url=http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/bpc1911/lactuca.html|title=Lactuca, Lactucarium|author=the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain|year=1911|accessdate=2007-05-27}}</ref> for use in lozenges, tinctures, and syrups as a [[sedative]] for irritable cough or as a mild [[hypnotic]] (sleeping aid) for [[insomnia]]. The standard definition of lactucarium in these codices required its production from ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', but it was recognized that smaller quantities of lactucarium could be produced in a similar way from ''[[Lactuca sativa]]'' and ''[[Lactuca canadensis]]'' var. ''elongata'', and even that lettuce-opium obtained from ''[[Lactuca scariola]]'' or ''[[Lactuca altissima]]'' was of superior quality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca.html|title=King's American Dispensary:Tinctura Lactucarii (U. S. P.)—Tincture of Lactucarium|author=Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.|year=1898|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref>

In the twentieth century, two major studies found commercial lactucarium to be without effect. In 1944, Fulton concluded, "Modern medicine considers its sleep producing qualities a superstition, its therapeutic action doubtful or nil." Another study of the time identified active [[bitter principle]]s [[lactucin]] and [[lactucopicrin]], but noted that these compounds from the fresh latex were unstable and did not remain in commercial preparations of lactucarium. Accordingly, lettuce opium fell from favor, until publications of the [[hippie]] movement began to promote it in the mid-1970s as a legal drug producing [[Euphoria (emotion)|euphoria]], sometimes compounded with [[catnip]] or [[damiana]].<ref name="herbs2000">{{cite web|url=http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lettuce_opium.htm|title=Lettuce opium|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref>

The seeds of lettuce have also been used to relieve pain. Lettuce seed was listed between [[belladonna]] and [[snow]] in order of anaesthetic potency in [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', which served as an authoritative medical textbook from soon after 1000 A.D. until the seventeenth century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1272342|title=Avicenna and the Canon of Medicine: a millennial tribute|author=Richard Dean Smith|year=1980|accessdate=2005-07-07}}</ref>

==Contemporary use==
Although lactucarium has faded from general use as a pain reliever, it remains available, sometimes promoted as a legal [[psychotropic]].

The seed of ordinary lettuce, ''[[Lactuca sativa]]'', is still used in Avicenna's native [[Iran]] as a folk medicine, and a crude extract of the seeds was shown to have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in standard [[formalin]] and [[carrageenan]] tests of laboratory rats. It was not toxic to the rats at a dose of 6 [[grams]] per [[kilogram]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sayyah M, Hadidi N, Kamalinejad M.|title=Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of Lactuca sativa extract in rats|journal=J Ethnopharmacology 92(2-3):325-9 PMID 15138019|year=2004|accessdate=2007-05-28}}</ref>

==Mechanism==
The active ingredients of lactucarium are believed to be [[lactucin]] and its derivatives [[lactucopicrin]] and 11β13-[[dihydrolactucin]], which have been found to have [[analgesic]] activity equal or greater to that of [[ibuprofen]] in standard hot-plate and tail-flick tests of sensitivity to pain in laboratory mice. Lactucin and lactucropicrin were also found to have [[sedative]] activity in measurements of spontaneous movements of the mice.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wesolowska A, Nikiforuk A, Michalska K, Kisiel W, Chojnacka-Wojcik E.|journal=1: J Ethnopharmacol 107(2):254-8 PMID 16621374|date=2006-09-19|accessdate=2007-05-27}}</ref> Some effects have also been credited to a trace of [[hyoscyamine]] in ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', but the alkaloid was undetectable in standard lactucarium.<ref name="BPC" />

==Formulations==
Lactucarium was used unmodified in lozenges, 30-60 [[milligrams]] (0.5 to 1 [[grain (measure)|grain]], sometimes mixed with [[borax]]. However, it was found to be more efficient to formulate the drug in a [[cough syrup]] ''(Syrupus Lactucarii, U.S.P.)'' containing net 5% lactucarium, 22% glycerin, 5% alcohol, and 5% orange-flower water in syrup.<ref name="BPC" />

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Psychoactive drugs]]

[[fr:Lactucarium]]
[[pl:Lactucarium]]

Lactucarium - Revision history

Envoy at 18:22, 7 November 2007