View source for Lactucarium

{{Short description|Psychoactive fluid secreted by lettuce}}
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{{more medical citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox botanical product
|name    = Lactucarium
|plant   = ''Lactuca'' spp.
|part    = Latex (see also seeds)
|origin  = [[Southern Europe]]
|uses    = Analgesic, sleep aid, euphoriant
|legal_status=Unscheduled}}

'''Lactucarium''' is the milky fluid secreted by several species of [[lettuce]], especially ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', usually from the base of the stems.  It is known as '''lettuce opium''' because of its [[sedative]] and [[analgesic]] properties.  It has also been reported to promote a mild sensation of [[euphoriant|euphoria]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Adams |first=Cecil |date=2005-01-06 |title=Is iceberg lettuce a drug? |url=https://www.straightdope.com/21343701/is-iceberg-lettuce-a-drug |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325080152/https://www.straightdope.com/21343701/is-iceberg-lettuce-a-drug |archive-date=2023-03-25 |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=The Straight Dope}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Spadari M, Pommier P, Canioni D, Arditti J, David JM, Valli M | title = [Abuse of lactuca virosa] | language = French | journal = Presse Médicale | volume = 32 | issue = 15 | pages = 702–3 | date = April 2003 | pmid = 12762295 }}</ref>  Because it is a [[latex]], lactucarium physically resembles [[opium]], in that it is excreted as a white fluid and can be reduced to a thick smokable solid. 

Although the effect is not that comparable, with opium being so much more potent, it still is effective in people who have no opioid tolerance.

==History==
"Lettuce opium" was used by the [[ancient Egyptians]], and was introduced as a drug in the United States as early as 1799.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Harkins |first=Tom |date=2021-05-31 |title=Wild Lettuce - Everything You Need to Know • New Life On A Homestead |url=https://www.newlifeonahomestead.com/wild-lettuce/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=New Life On A Homestead |language=en-US}}</ref> The drug was prescribed and studied extensively in Poland during the nineteenth century,{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} and was viewed as an alternative to opium, weaker but lacking side effects, such as not being highly addictive,<ref name=":0" /> and in some cases preferable.  However, early efforts to isolate an active [[alkaloid]] were unsuccessful.<ref name="Trojanowska">{{cite journal | vauthors = Trojanowska A | title = [Lettuce, lactuca sp., as a medicinal plant in polish publications of the 19th century] | language = Polish | journal = Kwartalnik Historii Nauki I Techniki | volume = 50 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 123–34 | year = 2005 | pmid = 17153150 }}</ref>  It is described and standardized in the 1898 [[United States Pharmacopoeia]]<ref name="USP">{{cite web|url=https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca_lact_tinc.html|title=King's American Dispensary:Tinctura Lactucarii (U. S. P.)—Tincture of Lactucarium| first1 = Harvey Wickes | last1 = Felter | first2 = John Uri | last2 = Lloyd |year=1898|access-date=2007-05-28}}</ref> and 1911 ''[[British Pharmaceutical Codex]]''<ref name="BPC">{{cite web|url=https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/bpc1911/lactuca.html|title=Lactuca, Lactucarium|author=the Council of the [[Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain]]|year=1911|access-date=2007-05-27}}</ref> for use in [[Throat lozenge|lozenges]], [[tincture]]s, and syrups as a [[sedative]] for irritable cough or as a mild [[hypnotic]] (sleeping aid) for [[insomnia]].  The standard definition of lactucarium in these codices required its production from ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', but it was recognized that smaller quantities of lactucarium could be produced in a similar way from ''[[Lactuca sativa]]'' and ''[[Lactuca canadensis]]'' var. ''elongata'', and even that lettuce-opium obtained from ''[[Lactuca serriola]]'' or ''[[Lactuca quercina]]'' was of superior quality.<ref>{{cite book |author=Harvey Wickes Felter |author2=John Uri Lloyd |title=King's American Dispensatory|year=1898|publisher=Ohio Valley Co|location=Cincinnati|pages=1114–1117 |title-link=King's American Dispensatory}} See [https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca.html Lactuca.—Lettuce] and [https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/lactuca_lact_tinc.html Tinctura Lactucarii (U. S. P.)—Tincture of Lactucarium] at Henriette's Herbal Homepage.</ref>

In the twentieth century, two major studies found commercial lactucarium to be without effect.  In 1944, Fulton concluded, "Modern medicine considers its sleep producing qualities a superstition, its therapeutic action doubtful or nil."  Another study of the time identified active [[bitter principle]]s [[lactucin]] and [[lactucopicrin]], but noted that these compounds from the fresh latex were unstable and did not remain in commercial preparations of lactucarium.  Accordingly, lettuce opium fell from favor, until publications of the [[hippie]] movement began to promote it in the mid-1970s as a legal drug producing [[Euphoria (emotion)|euphoria]], sometimes compounded with [[catnip]] or [[damiana]].<ref name="herbs2000">{{cite web|url=http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lettuce_opium.htm|title=Lettuce opium|access-date=2007-05-28}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=November 2017}} More recent work has confirmed that lactucin and lactucopicrin do have analgesic and sedative properties.<ref name=Wesolowska/>

The seeds of lettuce have also been used to relieve pain.{{medcn|date=September 2015}}  Lettuce seed was listed as an anaesthetic in [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', which served as an authoritative medical textbook from soon after AD 1000 until the seventeenth century.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Smith RD | title = Avicenna and the Canon of Medicine: a millennial tribute | journal = The Western Journal of Medicine | volume = 133 | issue = 4 | pages = 367–70 | date = October 1980 | pmid = 7051568 | pmc = 1272342 }}</ref>

==Contemporary use==
Although lactucarium has faded from general use as a pain reliever, it remains available, sometimes promoted as a legal [[psychotropic]].

The seed of ordinary lettuce, ''[[Lactuca sativa]]'', is still used in Avicenna's native [[Iran]] as a [[folk medicine]].{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

==Chemical constituents==
[[Image:Lactuca compounds.svg|thumb|Chemical compounds which occur in lettuce: (1) α-lactucerol ([[taraxasterol]]); (2) β-lactucerol (lactucon, lactucerin); (3) lactucin; (4) lactucopicrin]]
The chemical constituents of lactucarium that have been investigated for biological activity include [[lactucin]] and its derivatives [[lactucopicrin]] and [[11β,13-dihydrolactucin]].  Lactucin and lactucopicrin were found to have [[analgesic]] effects comparable to those of [[ibuprofen]], and [[sedative]] activity in measurements of spontaneous movements of the mice.<ref name="Wesolowska"/>  Some effects have also been credited to a trace of [[hyoscyamine]] in ''[[Lactuca virosa]]'', but the alkaloid was undetectable in standard lactucarium.<ref name="BPC" />  A crude extract of the seeds was shown to have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in standard [[formalin]] and [[carrageenan]] tests of laboratory rats.  It was not toxic to the rats at a dose of 6&nbsp;[[gram]]s per [[kilogram]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sayyah M, Hadidi N, Kamalinejad M | title = Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of Lactuca sativa seed extract in rats | journal = Journal of Ethnopharmacology | volume = 92 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 325–9 | date = June 2004 | pmid = 15138019 | doi = 10.1016/j.jep.2004.03.016 }}</ref>

''Lactuca virosa'' contains [[flavonoid]]s, [[coumarin]]s, and [[N-Methylphenethylamine|''N''-methyl-β-phenethylamine]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.holistic-online.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h307.htm | work = Holistic Online herb information | title = Wild Lettuce | access-date = 2019-10-31 | archive-date = 2006-01-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060105201002/http://www.holistic-online.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h307.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=September 2011}}  A variety of other chemical compounds have been isolated from ''L. virosa''.  One of the compounds, [[lactucin]], is an [[adenosine receptor]] agonist ''[[in vitro]]'',<ref name=Wesolowska>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wesołowska A, Nikiforuk A, Michalska K, Kisiel W, Chojnacka-Wójcik E | title = Analgesic and sedative activities of lactucin and some lactucin-like guaianolides in mice | journal = Journal of Ethnopharmacology | volume = 107 | issue = 2 | pages = 254–8 | date = September 2006 | pmid = 16621374 | doi = 10.1016/j.jep.2006.03.003 }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2023}} while another, [[lactucopicrin]], has been shown to act as an [[acetylcholinesterase inhibitor]] ''in vitro''.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rollinger JM, Mocka P, Zidorn C, Ellmerer EP, Langer T, Stuppner H | title = Application of the in combo screening approach for the discovery of non-alkaloid acetylcholinesterase inhibitors from Cichorium intybus | journal = Current Drug Discovery Technologies | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | pages = 185–93 | date = September 2005 | pmid = 16472227 | doi = 10.2174/1570163054866855 }}</ref>
[[File:Lactuca_virosa_bleeding.JPG|thumb|right|''Lactuca virosa'']]

''[[Lactuca floridana]]'' was found to contain [[11β,13-Dihydro-lactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fronczek CF, Gomez-Barrios ML, Fischer NH, Fronczek FR | title = 11β,13-Dihydro-lactucin-8-O-acetate hemihydrate | journal = Acta Crystallographica Section E | volume = 65 | issue = Pt 10 | pages = o2564-5 | date = September 2009 | pmid = 21578003 | doi = 10.1107/S160053680903829X | pmc = 2970292 | bibcode = 2009AcCrE..65o2564F }}</ref>

==Formulations==
Lactucarium was used unmodified in lozenges, 30–60&nbsp;[[milligrams]] (0.5 to 1&nbsp;[[grain (measure)|grain]]), sometimes mixed with [[borax]].  However, it was found to be more efficient to formulate the drug in a [[cough syrup]] ''(Syrupus Lactucarii, U.S.P.)'' containing net 5% lactucarium, 22% glycerin, 5% alcohol, and 5% [[orange-flower water]] in syrup.<ref name="BPC" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ancient anaesthesia-footer}}

[[Category:Analgesics]]
[[Category:Sedatives]]
[[Category:Euphoriants]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants]]
[[Category:Lactuca]]