opium
Drug extracted from the unripe seeds of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) of southwestern Asia. An addictive narcotic, it contains several alkaloids, including morphine, one of the most powerful natural painkillers and addictive narcotics known, and codeine, a milder painkiller, which are referred to as opiates.
Heroin is a synthetic derivative of morphine and even more powerful as a drug. Opium is still sometimes given as a tincture, dissolved in alcohol and known as laudanum. Opium also contains the highly poisonous alkaloid thebaine.
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