Shelf life of opium

[MultistateOffender]

Anyone know how long one can keep opium, and the best method to go about doing so? I looked it up on search and didn't find anything...

 

[PapaverPrisoner]

From what I have read, certain tribes in southeast Asia carry around a small ball of opium as sort of "currency". They can do that as opium stays the same. If it's true I don't know.
Diana Mosley - the wife of the infamous british fascist leader - was imprisoned during WW2. In her autobiography she wrote that one little weak opium pill given her in jail, nearly killed her. The explanation the prison doctor gave, was that opium often get stronger when stored for a long time.
Sounds weird perhaps, but I have had a similar experience with a synthetic analgesic, which appeared 10 times better when really old.

 

[Pander Bear]

^^
desn't that violate the law of conservation of matter, or a thermodynamics violation, maybe?

 

[Blindpig]

I have a little ball (< 1gm) left of sticky tar opium that was purchased 3 years ago. I keep it wrapped in foil inside of a small ziplock. It has never dried out or lost taste or potency.
[ 20 September 2002: Message edited by: Blindpig ]

 

[Skyline_GTR]

Originally posted by atlas:
^^
desn't that violate the law of conservation of matter, or a thermodynamics violation, maybe?
No. I don't know if opium will get stonger or not, but if it does it could be because of an ongoing, slow chemical reaction. Matter would not be created, just molecules converting to different molecules through the reaction.
An example (I think) would be wine fermentation...