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==Medicinal Uses==
Opium has been a major item of trade for centuries, and has long been used as a painkiller and [[sedative]]. It was well known to the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]], who named it ''opion'' ("poppy juice"), from which the present name - a [[Latin]]isation - is derived. Many [[patent medicine]]s of the [[19th century]] were based around [[laudanum]] (known as "tincture of opium", a solution of opium in [[Ethyl alcohol]]). Tincture of Opium is prescribed in modern times, amoung other reasons, for ongoing, severe diarrhea caused, for example, by the creation of an [[ileostomy]]. A 10% Tincture of Opium solution (10% opium, 90% ethyl alcohol) taken 30 minutes prior to meals will significantly slow intestinal motility, giving the intestines greater time to obsorb fluid in the stool.
==See also==
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