Interesting fact: Regular opium users don't get tolerances like users of isolates/ opiates do. Has to do with the multiple alkaloids in opium vs just 1 like MS or Codeine.
I would dispute that. It's like saying users of poppy tea don't build a tolerance. Where did you get that 'fact' from?
All opiates cause tolerance in the user. That is the main mechanism behind dependence.
I guess I should have explained that better, but it was more of an NSADD comment than an OD one. While I can't give you a PubMed Abstract, I have an anecdote I consider to be trustworthy.
Jean Cocteau (Jul 05, 1889 - Oct 11, 1963) wrote a book called Opium and was a hopeless addict for quite some time, but always held the belief that opium need not be ever increased
like the isolates do to maintain ones habit. Sure many went to extremes and became impoverished to practically live in opium dens, but many more lived relatively normal lives on opium.
A couple of his quotes are:
"Let no one say to me habit forces the smoker to increase the dose. One of the riddles of opium is that the smoker never has to increase his dose"
"If he takes care of himself, an addict who inhales twelve pipes a day all his life will not only be fortified against influenza, colds and sore throats, but will also be far less in danger than a man who drinks a glass of brandy and smokes four cigars.
I know people who have smoked up to twelve pipes a day for forty years." ~Jean Cocteau~
Obviously this can't be taken too literally, but oddly enough many people quickly found their preferred daily amount and never increased it..for decades, while earning a living in various fields of work. Quality Opium was sold in Chandu shops
where habits were maintained as an ordinary, yet functional thing.
When morphine & friends were isolated, people had much stronger tendencies to increase the dose much like today. When Opium laws were enacted (see League of Nations) and chandu was no longer sold, It was largely replaced by Alcohol and tobacco which had a far greater detriment to peoples health.
If I come across something more convincing regarding the concomitant use of Noscapine, Papaverine, Thebaine, etc. I'll bring it to your attention.
I should also point out that smoking isn't effected by first pass hepatic metabolism which Tea is.
(sorry for veering off topic Stee)