Laudanum would represent an equivalent daily dose of between 180 mg and 480 mg of morphine. Today, morphine and codeine are available in various forms as single formulation products, which are easier to dose and are much cheaper than opium tincture. Thus, opium is rarely prescribed to treat pain in contemporary medicine. Further, opium tincture contains 17-to-19% alcohol, by volume, which may complicate its use as an analgesic in patients for whom alcohol is contraindicated. Extreme caution is advised when administering doses of Tincture of Opium. Doses should be carefully measured using an oral syringe or calibrated dropper. Apothecary measurements should
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