Polish heroin
Encyclopedia
Polish heroin is a crude preparation of heroin made from poppy straw. Like heroin derived from opium
, it is an addictive opiate
psychoactive drug
, used recreationally
. Poppy straw and opium are both harvest
ed from the opium poppy
. Polish heroin was used mainly in Central
and Eastern Europe
prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
and the end of communist control of the countries of the Warsaw Pact
or Eastern Bloc
.
While related to opium, Polish heroin more nearly resembles poppy tea
in its impurity, but can be very potent. This drug was also considered by Eastern Bloc addicts to be one of last resort when refined heroin, morphine
, or other similar drugs were unavailable, which they often were during the 1950s through the end of the Soviet era. Illicit drug trafficking and clandestine drug manufacture within the communist-governed nations of Poland
, Hungary
, Czechoslovakia
, Romania
, Bulgaria
, Russia
itself, and others was on a much smaller scale and the supply far more erratic and unreliable compared to that of Western nations. Opium poppies, by contrast, were widely available and relatively inexpensive. The drug has been known as early as the 1940s. The drug in its finished state is a bitter brown fluid looking like tea or cola in color.
Polish heroin contains heroin, morphine, codeine
(in small amounts), and some amount of monoacetylmorphine
, a precursor to and analog of diacetylmorphine. The amount of opiates can be high provided that the end product is not overly diluted during production, but the amount of diacetylmorphine created depends on the skills of people making it and the time and conditions of acetylation
.
The use of the term kompot or compote refers euphemistically to compote
, a traditional dessert popular in Central and Eastern European countries made of stewed fruit, spices, and sugar. The so-called kompot method of making a crude opiate "cocktail" intended for injection involves stewing the pods of the opium poppy in nearly boiling water and an acid. However in 1976 two Polish students from Gdańsk
discovered a simple way of making it by extracting opiate alkaloid
s from poppy straw by using ion exchange resin
, acetone
, ammonia
water and a few other chemicals used in the last step of production. In this method, opium poppy pods and stems are boiled in water for a few hours without adding acid, and then filtered. Strongly acidic ion exchange resin is then added. The resin is filtered and the opiates are recovered with the addition of ammonia water. The resulting liquid is evaporated using a chemical condenser, then when dry (it is then called glazura - glaze) it is acetylated using acetic anhydride
in an anhydrous
environment of a non-polar solvent
, for example toluene
, diethyl ether
, chloroform
, or most commonly acetone
. After acetylation, the solvent is evaporated to remove the acetic anhydride, and finally water is added. The amount of water added depends on the amount of plant material used in the beginning of the process, most often 30 milliliters per kilogram of dry plant material. Although the drug is primarily intended for intravenous injection
, kompot extraction as described here produces an end product containing residual plant matter, waste chemicals, impure water, and other contaminants, making this a potentially dangerous substance to inject.
Polish heroin has been in declining use since the break-up of the Soviet Union and its Central and Eastern European satellite states (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, et al.) as after 1991 the availability of heroin and other drugs smuggled into those countries from abroad increased enormously. Since then, "kompot"/"Polish heroin" has all but disappeared, except in a few rural areas where cheaper, purer, more potent drugs have not overwhelmed the illicit marketplace.
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, it is an addictive opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
psychoactive drug
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
, used recreationally
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
. Poppy straw and opium are both harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
ed from the opium poppy
Opium poppy
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine , thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine...
. Polish heroin was used mainly in Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the end of communist control of the countries of the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
or Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
.
While related to opium, Polish heroin more nearly resembles poppy tea
Poppy tea
Poppy tea is an infusion brewed from poppy straw or seeds of several species of poppy. The species most commonly used for this purpose is Papaver somniferum, which contains opium....
in its impurity, but can be very potent. This drug was also considered by Eastern Bloc addicts to be one of last resort when refined heroin, morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
, or other similar drugs were unavailable, which they often were during the 1950s through the end of the Soviet era. Illicit drug trafficking and clandestine drug manufacture within the communist-governed nations of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
itself, and others was on a much smaller scale and the supply far more erratic and unreliable compared to that of Western nations. Opium poppies, by contrast, were widely available and relatively inexpensive. The drug has been known as early as the 1940s. The drug in its finished state is a bitter brown fluid looking like tea or cola in color.
Polish heroin contains heroin, morphine, codeine
Codeine
Codeine or 3-methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal properties...
(in small amounts), and some amount of monoacetylmorphine
Monoacetylmorphine
6-Monoacetylmorphine or 6-Acetylmorphine is one of three active metabolites of heroin , the others being morphine and the much less active 3-Monoacetylmorphine ....
, a precursor to and analog of diacetylmorphine. The amount of opiates can be high provided that the end product is not overly diluted during production, but the amount of diacetylmorphine created depends on the skills of people making it and the time and conditions of acetylation
Acetylation
Acetylation describes a reaction that introduces an acetyl functional group into a chemical compound...
.
The use of the term kompot or compote refers euphemistically to compote
Compote
Compote is a dessert originating from 17th century France made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are immersed in water and with sugar and spices added to the dish, over gentle heat. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemon or orange peel, cinnamon sticks or powder,...
, a traditional dessert popular in Central and Eastern European countries made of stewed fruit, spices, and sugar. The so-called kompot method of making a crude opiate "cocktail" intended for injection involves stewing the pods of the opium poppy in nearly boiling water and an acid. However in 1976 two Polish students from Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
discovered a simple way of making it by extracting opiate alkaloid
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
s from poppy straw by using ion exchange resin
Ion exchange resin
An ion-exchange resin or ion-exchange polymer is an insoluble matrix normally in the form of small beads, usually white or yellowish, fabricated from an organic polymer substrate. The material has highly developed structure of pores on the surface of which are sites with easily trapped and...
, acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
, ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
water and a few other chemicals used in the last step of production. In this method, opium poppy pods and stems are boiled in water for a few hours without adding acid, and then filtered. Strongly acidic ion exchange resin is then added. The resin is filtered and the opiates are recovered with the addition of ammonia water. The resulting liquid is evaporated using a chemical condenser, then when dry (it is then called glazura - glaze) it is acetylated using acetic anhydride
Acetic anhydride
Acetic anhydride, or ethanoic anhydride, is the chemical compound with the formula 2O. Commonly abbreviated Ac2O, it is the simplest isolatable acid anhydride and is a widely used reagent in organic synthesis...
in an anhydrous
Anhydrous
As a general term, a substance is said to be anhydrous if it contains no water. The way of achieving the anhydrous form differs from one substance to another...
environment of a non-polar solvent
Solvent
A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
, for example toluene
Toluene
Toluene, formerly known as toluol, is a clear, water-insoluble liquid with the typical smell of paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, i.e., one in which a single hydrogen atom from the benzene molecule has been replaced by a univalent group, in this case CH3.It is an aromatic...
, diethyl ether
Diethyl ether
Diethyl ether, also known as ethyl ether, simply ether, or ethoxyethane, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula . It is a colorless, highly volatile flammable liquid with a characteristic odor...
, chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
, or most commonly acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
. After acetylation, the solvent is evaporated to remove the acetic anhydride, and finally water is added. The amount of water added depends on the amount of plant material used in the beginning of the process, most often 30 milliliters per kilogram of dry plant material. Although the drug is primarily intended for intravenous injection
Drug injection
In substance dependence and recreational drug use, drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the body with a hollow needle and a syringe which is pierced through the skin into the body...
, kompot extraction as described here produces an end product containing residual plant matter, waste chemicals, impure water, and other contaminants, making this a potentially dangerous substance to inject.
Polish heroin has been in declining use since the break-up of the Soviet Union and its Central and Eastern European satellite states (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, et al.) as after 1991 the availability of heroin and other drugs smuggled into those countries from abroad increased enormously. Since then, "kompot"/"Polish heroin" has all but disappeared, except in a few rural areas where cheaper, purer, more potent drugs have not overwhelmed the illicit marketplace.