# Can opium cause hallucinations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811 "2003-08-04T02:13:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paraphanelia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e79b87/32.png) [@Paraphanelia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paraphanelia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/1 "2003-08-04T02:13:08Z")
Can opium cause hallucinations? My friend said that taking enough of opium can cause hallucinations.What does it exactly do to you anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/2 "2003-08-04T02:43:07Z")
Hallucinations are almost the main reason for smoking opium. It was used in China for many centuries and was taken up by poets in England and France in the 1800s for that purpose. [http://www.frontlist.com/detail/0806514833](http://www.frontlist.com/detail/0806514833) > [@](#): > > Artificial Paradises, by Charles Baudelaire, Translated by Stacy Diamond > > In this beautifully wrought portrait of the effects of wine, opium, and hashish on the mind, Baudelaire captures the dreamlike visions he experienced during his narcotic trances. These hallucinations, sometimes exquisite, sometimes disturbing, and the delusions of grandeur that often accompanied them, constitute the Paradis Artificiels, the gorgeous yet false worlds of ecstasy that eventually led to his ruin. Contrasting the effects of hashish and opium with those of wine, Baudelaire concludes that “wine exalts the will, hashish destroys it” and makes idlers of all those who use it. A great page on opium in general, its history, what it does to you, and what makes it the classic opioid is [The Plant Of Joy](http://opioids.com/red.html). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/3 "2003-08-04T02:52:42Z")
Sorry, **exapno** , but the primary reason for using opium is the euphoria. Said euphoria will often cause delusions, but actual hallucinations (seeing, hearing, smelling etc. of things which are not actually there) is less common. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/4 "2003-08-04T03:29:38Z")
I don’t know about opium, but codeine can cause paranoid delusions. I learned that the hard way after a tonsillectomy (in adulthood). I decided that the pain was preferable. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/5 "2003-08-04T04:02:12Z")
_In the haze of the morning, China sits on eternity While the opium farmers sell dreams to obscure fraternities_ —Brian Eno ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/6 "2003-08-04T04:25:42Z")
Well, Dr. **QtM** , I did say _almost_ the main reason… OK, it was a bit of hyperbole. I’ll grant you that the primary reason is euphoria, but it’s quite easy to find mentions of hallucinations in any historical discussion of opium use. Whether those are being defined in the strict modern medical sense is difficult to say. Hmm. With a little searching I see that the well-named, if not well-spelled **Paraphanelia** has started four threads about drugs in the past two days. Opioids are bad news. Don’t mess with them. Ever. The doc can give you more details. ---
**Author:** ![bucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@bucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucho)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/7 "2003-08-04T12:34:31Z")
opium sure causes hallucination and in most cases grave ones that might distort the ideas and views of one who smoke it . vatsy ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/8 "2003-08-04T13:18:37Z")
Opium and opiates are narcotics, not hallucinogens. They may cause the user to nod off into a particularly vivid and euphoric dream state and experience hypnogogic hallucinations, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge would tell you, but they don’t really cause the holy-crap-my-shoes-are-talking variety of hallucinations associated with the hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/9 "2003-08-04T13:21:59Z")
Opium doesn’t cause hallucinations per se, in the same way, say, LSD does, but causes extremely vivid and often frightening dreams in habitual users. I think these dreams are more what the romantic poets, etc., drew on more than any waking hallucinations. And remember, they were usually sucking down a fair amount of absinthe, too. The active ingredients in opium aren’t really any different than what you’d find in prescription painkillers. ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/10 "2003-08-04T13:23:04Z")
Shit. Pravnik hit “submit reply” first. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/11 "2003-08-04T15:12:37Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\* Hmm. With a little searching I see that the well-named, if not well-spelled **Paraphanelia** has started four threads about drugs in the past two days._\* You are very observant, **exapno**! What’s the deal, **Para**? Both with your odd name and your focus on controlled substances? This board is dedicated to fighting ignorance, not serving the drug culture. ---
**Author:** ![Madlife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Madlife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madlife)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/12 "2012-01-29T03:19:10Z")
Sorry for the bump. But I did found this forum because of this thread. It showed up when I was looking for information about opium. Anyway, I just wanted to add in to the conversation and correct some misconceptions. Generally speaking, you can’t hallucinate from opium. If we’re talking about the effects, think alcohol. It’s basically a depressant that will cause drowsiness but feelings of elation are normal as well. It basically depends on how you consumed it. Source: [effects of opium](http://www.thedrugspot.com/opiates/opium-effects.html) ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/13 "2012-01-29T04:30:56Z")
Opium and opiates do not cause hallucinations in the sense of visual distortions or seeing things that are not there, however they can put someone into a vivid dream state called nodding. This is taking place while the person’s eyes are closed. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/14 "2012-01-29T17:54:19Z")
Oh, I’ve known friends and family members who were hospitalized and receiving morphine. They spent a lot of time talking to and about dead people. And I mean talking TO them, carrying on conversations with them as though the dead were right in the room. My mother also baked cookies, crocheted, and tried to sell her monitoring equipment in ICU. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/15 "2012-01-29T20:37:04Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > and tried to sell her monitoring equipment in ICU. > ~VOW Well, that is one way to defray the high cost of hospitalization:D ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/16 "2012-01-29T20:51:20Z")
I volunteer to test the hypothesis. PM me and we’ll arrange for you to ship me the opium. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/17 "2012-01-30T00:13:56Z")
I would think opiates would cause more of a disassociate state rather than an just straight LSD type hallucinations. With hallucinations you are alert but seeing things that aren’t there. In a disassociate state, you’re basically in a walking dream. Like kind of sleep-walking. You react to things or memories that are in your subconscious, like you would in a dream-state. But you almost can’t differentiate the dream from real life. Like a sleep-walker. Its hard to describe the difference unless you’ve been there and done that. Well **NJTT** below said it better than I could. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opium-cause-hallucinations/192811/18 "2012-01-30T00:14:18Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Opium and opiates are narcotics, not hallucinogens. They may cause the user to nod off into a particularly vivid and euphoric dream state and experience hypnogogic hallucinations, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge would tell you, but they don’t really cause the holy-crap-my-shoes-are-talking variety of hallucinations associated with the hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline, etc.). Well, yes, but the thing is, LSD, mescaline and the like do not really do the later either. Neither do they commonly cause you to see things (things that get taken for real physical objects in your actual environment) that are not there. Sometimes hallucinogens may, like opiates, make you to slip into a vivid dreaming or hypnagogic state, where, as in a normal dream, you are in a world that is not really there (maybe that ought to count as hallucination, I don’t know), but that is different from seeing things that are not there within a real world that you are mostly aware of. Hallucinogens certainly have powerful effects on your perception and thinking, but it is not really a matter of seeing things that are not there, or hearing sounds that are not actually sounding. For the most part, you see and hear the things that really are there, but you see and hear (and smell, taste and feel) them differently from usual, and they often seem to have a significance quite different from that which they usually have. (And maybe that ought to count as hallucination too. After all, it is what hallucinogens actually do reliably cause.) I speak both from experience and from some fairly extensive reading of the relevant scientific (and some not so scientific) literature. The concept of hallucination is actually very slippery and poorly defined (even in the scientific literature), which makes it next to impossible to give a clear yes or no answer to questions of this sort.