Editing Opium (section)

=== Obsolescence ===
[[File:Apothecary vessel Opium 18-19 century.jpg|thumb|right|Apothecary vessel for storage of opium as a pharmaceutical, Germany, 18th or 19th century]]
Globally, opium has gradually been superseded by a variety of purified, semi-synthetic, and synthetic [[opioids]] with progressively stronger effects, and by other [[general anesthetics]]. This process began in 1804, when [[Friedrich Sertürner|Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner]] first isolated morphine from the opium poppy.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Morimoto | first=Satoshi |author2=Kazunari Suemori |author3=Jun Moriwaki |author4=Futoshi Taura |author5=Hiroyuki Tanaka |author6=Mariko Aso |author7=Masakazu Tanaka |author8=Hiroshi Suemune |author9=Yasuyuki Shimohigashi |author10=Yukihiro Shoyama | title= Morphine Metabolism in the Opium Poppy and Its Possible Physiological Function | journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry | volume=276 | issue=41 | pages=38179–38184| date=October 12, 2001 | pmid= 11498543| doi=10.1074/jbc.M107105200 |display-authors=etal|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/index.php?id=titel_16_2004 |title=Dem Morphin auf der Spur |publisher=Pharmazeutische-zeitung.de |access-date=October 7, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Morphine10mgmLvial.jpg|thumb|Modern vial of morphine first isolated from opium by Friedrich Sertürner]]
The process continued until 1817, when Sertürner published his results after thirteen years of research and a nearly disastrous trial on himself and three boys.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Huxtable Ryan J. |author2=Schwartz Stephen K. W. | year = 2001 | title = The Isolation of Morphine—First Principles in Science and Ethics | url = http://triggered.edina.clockss.org/ServeContent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmolinterv.aspetjournals.org%2Fcontent%2F1%2F4%2F189.full | journal = Molecular Interventions | volume = 1 | issue = 4| pages = 189–191 |pmid=14993340 }}</ref> The great advantage of purified morphine was that a patient could be treated with a known dose—whereas with raw plant material, as [[Gabriel Fallopius]] once lamented, "if soporifics are weak they do not help; if they are strong they are exceedingly dangerous."

Morphine was the first pharmaceutical isolated from a natural product, and this success encouraged the isolation of other alkaloids: by 1820, isolations of [[noscapine]], [[strychnine]], [[veratrine]], [[colchicine]], [[caffeine]], and [[quinine]] were reported. Morphine sales began in 1827, by [[Heinrich Emanuel Merck]] of Darmstadt, and helped him expand his family pharmacy into the [[Merck KGaA]] pharmaceutical company. [[Codeine]] was isolated in 1832 by [[Pierre Jean Robiquet]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Robiquet|first= Pierre Jean|date= 1832|title= Annales de chimie et de physique|url= https://archive.org/details/s3id13208200/page/264|language=french|volume=51|location= Paris|publisher= Crochard}}</ref>

The use of [[diethyl ether]] and [[chloroform]] for [[general anesthesia]] began in 1846–1847, and rapidly displaced the use of opiates and [[tropane]] alkaloids from [[Solanaceae]] due to their relative safety.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Carter AJ |title=Narcosis and nightshade |journal=The BMJ |volume=313 |issue=7072 |pages=1630–2 |year=1996 |pmid=8991015 |pmc=2359130 |doi=10.1136/bmj.313.7072.1630 }}</ref>

[[Heroin]], the first semi-synthetic opioid, was first synthesized in 1874, but was not pursued until its rediscovery in 1897 by [[Felix Hoffmann]] at the [[Bayer]] pharmaceutical company in [[Elberfeld]], [[Germany]]. From 1898 to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough medicine for children. Because the lethal dose of heroin was viewed as a hundred times greater than its effective dose, heroin was advertised as a safer alternative to other opioids.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Heroin Addiction|last=Judson|first=Horace F|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1974|isbn=978-0-394-72017-3|page=54}}</ref> By 1902, sales made up 5 percent of the company's profits, and "heroinism" had attracted media attention.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://opioids.com/heroin/heroinhistory.html|title=How aspirin turned hero|author1=[[Richard Askwith]]|author2=The Sunday Times|date=September 13, 1998|access-date=May 2, 2007|archive-date=September 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906072739/http://opioids.com/heroin/heroinhistory.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Oxycodone]], a [[thebaine]] derivative similar to [[codeine]], was introduced by Bayer in 1916 and promoted as a less-addictive analgesic. Preparations of the drug such as [[oxycodone/paracetamol|oxycodone with paracetamol]] and [[extended release]] oxycodone remain popular to this day.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

A range of synthetic [[opioids]] such as [[methadone]] (1937), [[pethidine]] (1939), [[fentanyl]] (late 1950s), and derivatives thereof have been introduced, and each is preferred for certain specialized applications. Nonetheless, morphine remains the drug of choice for American [[combat medic]]s, who carry packs of [[syrette]]s containing 16 milligrams each for use on severely wounded soldiers.<ref name="MOLLE">{{cite web|url=http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/OperationalMedicine/DATA/operationalmed/Manuals/FMSS/MOLLEMEDICALBAG.htm|title=Operational Medicine 2001 Field Medical Service School Student Handbook: Molle medical bag/surgical instrument set|date=December 7, 1999|access-date=June 27, 2007}}</ref> No drug has been found that can match the painkilling effect of [[opioid]]s without also duplicating much of their addictive potential.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}