From the first use of plants in folk medicine to the development of our present pharmaceutical industry, alkaloid-containing plant species have played a prominent role in human medicine. Extracts of alkaloids are employed as pain relievers, cardiac and respiratory stimulants, muscle relaxants, blood vessel constrictors, cures for malaria, and pupil dilators used during eye examinations. Some alkaloids have mild or strongly addictive side effects: caffeine from coffee and tea, nicotine from tobacco, cocaine from the leaves of the tropical coca plant, and morphine from the opium poppy. Heroin, a
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