Papaver somniferum L. Prescription by a medical practitioner only. Contains morphine alkaloids and codeine. Analgesic, narcotic.
Although medication with opiates is addictive and its abuse ranges from dependence to death, use of crushed poppyheads as a topical poultice for crippling pain, as in terminal disease of chest or abdomen, is worthy of consideration. In an age before modern drugs and anaesthetics this was one of the few solaces available. Even today, there are a few situations for which this deep-acting pain-killer is indicated as, for instance, wounds healed but not without pain.
In spite of the plethora of modern drugs to combat the pain of terminal illness, few are as effective as the greatest anodyne of all time which led the eminent Sydenham to say “. . . if it were expunged from the pharmacopoeia, I would give up the practise of medicine”. ... opium poppy
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