A drug containing opium or opium-derived substances that reduces pain and can cause drowsiness or addiction.
From Medieval Latin 'opiatus' (containing opium), from Arabic 'afyūn' (opium), originally from the opium poppy plant. The term became standard in medicine by the 17th century.
Opium has been used medicinally for over 4,000 years—ancient Sumerians called it 'the joy plant'—but it wasn't until chemists isolated specific compounds like morphine in 1804 that we understood which molecules actually blocked pain in the brain.
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