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The opium poppy was first grown and harvested in Mesopotamia. Then, it was passed between various cultures.
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Hippocrates, also known as the "father of medicine," praised opioids as useful for treating diseases and epidemics from 460-357 BCE.
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Alexander the Great introduced the opium plant to Arabs, Greeks, and Romans for use as a sedative.
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Hua Tuo, a Chinese surgeon used a mixture of cannabis and opium for patients to swallow before a painful surgery from 220-264 CE.
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A Swiss-German alchemist, Paracelsus, developed a type of opium that was able to reduce pain more than previous types. He called it laudanum and it is still available as a prescription today.
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Morphine was developed by a German alchemist, Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner. Throughout the 19th century morphine was used as a pain killer and became even more popular during the American Civil War.
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The hypodermic needle led to further use of opioids for pain relief. Many realized that morphine was highly addictive and being abused, so a new, alternative pain reliever was sought.
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Heroin is created as an alternative to morphine and called "non-addictive."
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The United States Congress passed the Opium Exclusion Act. The act banned the imports of opioids for the purpose of smoking.
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Heroin production, importation, and possession is made illegal in the United States.
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Oxycodone was approved by the FDA, which continues to be abused by millions.
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The Controlled Substance Act regulated prescription narcotics/opioids into five schedules based on harmfulness, usefulness, and abuse potential.
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Throughout the 1990s development and marketing of prescription opioids became more significant than ever. The market for morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, and hydromorphone was in a higher demand than ever as doctors prescribed these medications too often.
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4,000,000 people (2% of the population) 12 and older in the U.S. were using prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.
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The United States continues to fight the war on drugs. In 2013, the FDA issued guidelines to drug manufactures providing methods to deter drug abuse. These include: physical barriers that prevent common methods of drug abuse, chemicals that eliminate the high prescription opioids create, an unpleasant effect that occurs when the drug is taken incorrectly, and a different way of taking the drug such as through implants.
