The central government has for the first time allowed a private company, Bajaj Healthcare, to process opium to extract alkaloids used to make pain-killers, cough syrups, and even cancer drugs.

The reason the research is important is because many parts of the world do not have ready access to painkillers like morphine. Although synthetic analgesics are available, these are expensive and it ...

The Mumbai-based Piramal Healthcare is preparing to become the first private sector company to process opium for use in pharmaceutical products. The development, which would end the six-decade ...

NEW DELHI: Moving cautiously in the minefield of narcotics, the government has for the first time decided to allow private sector participation in opium processing. But it has made it clear that it ...

Of all plants used in the field of medicine, none has been as widely employed – nor has helped to save as many lives and ease suffering – as the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. The plant and its ...

CHINESE immigrants and well-to-do Manhattan socialites lie together in drug-induced stupor – victims of the epidemic of opium addiction that spread across America in the late 19th century. Rare ...