Early History of Narcotics Use and Narcotics Legislation in the United States *

The opium poppy has been the source of sleep-inducing drugs and soothing beverages since antiquity. ¹ Eventually it was learned that the ingredients responsible for the soporific properties were contained in the juice that exudes from the ripe poppy head when it is lanced. This juice, collected and dried, is opium. The opium itself contains two major components (alkaloids) that are distinct though related in drug action: morphine and codeine. They were first identified early in the nineteenth century.