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opium
(o´pe-әm)
the air-dried milky exudation from unripe capsules of Papaver somniferum and P.album (the opium poppies). It contains some 25 alkaloids, the most important being codeine, morphine (from which heroin is derived), noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine, all of which can be used for their narcotic and analgesic effects. Opium is highly addictive, and poisonous in large doses.
See also drug abuse.

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