narcotic summary

Mafia, hierarchically structured society of criminals of primarily Italian or Sicilian birth or extraction. The term applies to the traditional criminal organization in Sicily and also to a criminal organization in the United States. Most scholars agree that the Mafia emerged in Sicily in the 19th

Heroin, highly addictive morphine derivative that makes up a large portion of the illicit traffic in narcotics. Heroin is made by treating morphine with acetic anhydride; the resulting substance is four to eight times as potent as morphine. (Morphine is an alkaloid found in opium, which is the

Opium, narcotic drug that is obtained from the unripe seedpods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), a plant of the family Papaveraceae. (See poppy.) Opium is obtained by slightly incising the seed capsules of the poppy after the plant’s flower petals have fallen. The slit seedpods exude a milky