Editing Paregoric (section)

==Indications==
The main effects of paregoric are to increase the muscular tone of the intestine, to inhibit normal [[peristalsis]], and as an expectorant; a peer-reviewed clinical study in 1944 reported "that all of [its] ingredients have been found to contribute toward the expectorant action of paregoric, and, further, that an advantage is contained in the combination over the sum of the effects of the individual constituents," that Paregoric "is expectorant by virtue of a reflex from the stomach," and "preparations of paregoric which have aged for two or three years are superior as an expectorant to preparations aged for less time.".<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Boyd | first1 = Elden M. | last2 = MacLachan | first2 = Marian L. | year = 1944 | title = The Expectorant Action of Paregoric | journal = Can. Med. Assoc. J. | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | page = 344 | pmc = 1581631 | pmid = 20323061 }} The authors note: "Because of its marked expectorant action paregoric is superior to morphine, which has probably no expectorant action, and to tincture of opium which has very little expectorant action.</ref>  Its main medical use is to control [[fulminant]] [[diarrhea]], and as an antitussive (cough suppressant).  Problems with its use include [[opiate dependency]] and analgesia which can mask symptoms of diseases that need treatment.{{Cn|date=March 2021}}

However, Paregoric was characterized as "a needlessly complex pharmacopeial mixture... of a former day" by a 1966 study.<ref name="unodc" />  In the 21st century its two main uses have been largely supplanted by minimally psychoactive cough-suppressant drugs (such as [[dextromethorphan]]) and non-psychoactive antidiarrheal drugs (such as [[loperamide]]).{{Cn|date=March 2021}}