Laudanum synthesizing various opioids, such as propoxyphene, oxymorphone and oxycodone. These synthetic opioids, along with codeine and morphine were preferable to laudanum since a single opioid could be prescribed for different types of pain rather than the "cocktail" of laudanum, which contains nearly all of the opium alkaloids. Consequently, laudanum became mostly obsolete as an analgesic, since its principal ingredient is morphine, which can be prescribed by itself to treat pain. Until now, there has been no medical consensus on which of the two (laudanum or morphine alone) is the better choice for treating pain. In 1970, the US adopted the
Crude drug Crude drug Crude drugs are vegetable or animal drugs that contain natural substances that have undergone only the processes of collection and drying. The term natural substances refers to those substances found in nature that have not had man-made changes made in their molecular structure. They are used as medicine for human being and animal, internally and externally for curing disease, e.g., Senna and Cinchona. A crude drug is any naturally occurring, unrefined substance derived from organic or inorganic sources such as plant, animal, bacteria, organs or whole organisms intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention