Long ago, opium's strange and mysterious flower was enjoyed and celebrated by ancient civilizations. The plant was not perceived as having any medical, curative powers or deadly addictive properties. Instead, people believed that opium had mystical powers capable of inducing temporary happiness and a welcomed, trancelike slumber.

The earliest people to cultivate the opium poppy were the Sumerians, who occupied Mesopotamia in what is present-day Iraq. Five thousand years ago they referred to opium poppies as hul gil , meaning the "joy plant." Anthropologists believe that they probably discovered the plant's mysterious properties by observing the intoxicated behavior of cattle that had eaten the sap-filled pods. Out of curiosity, some Sumerians chewed the pods and experienced a calming bliss. Over time, the Sumerians gave away seeds and passed along claims about the plant's comforting effects to the Babylonians, who...