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The source opium is the opium poppy, or also known as Papaver Somniferum. The word Papaver comes from the Greek word poppy. The opium poppy was first used in Europe at least 400 years ago. We know this because of fossil remains of the poppy seeds. The opium poppy reached China around 7th century A.D. In 1803, a German scientist, named Serturner, was the person who discovered morphine in opium.
In the United States, opium became commonly available in the 1800s. Opium was mainly used for extracting morphine to use it as a painkiller for the injured soldiers in the Civil War. When opium and morphine abuse problems arose, the search for strong, non-addictive painkillers began. In the 1870s, scientists developed a substitute for morphine that was non-addictive but opium based. The Bayer Pharmaceutical Company was the first to produce the new substitute for morphine, calling it Heroin.
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