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Opium
There were no legal
restrictions on the importation or use of opium until the early 1900s.
In the United States, the unrestricted availability of opium, the influx
of opium-smoking immigrants from East Asia, and the invention of the hypodermic
needle contributed to the more severe variety of compulsive drug abuse
seen at the turn of the 20th century. In those days, medicines often contained
opium without any warning label. Today, there are state, federal, and
international laws governing the production and distribution of narcotic
substances.
Although opium is
used in the form of paragoric to treat diarrhea, most opium imported into
the United States is broken down into its alkaloid constituents. These
alkaloids are divided into two distinct chemical classes, phenanthrenes
and isoquinolines. The principal phenanthrenes are morphine, codeine,
and thebaine, while the isoquinolines have no significant central nervous
system effects and are not regulated under the CSA.
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