"Gees Linctus" is also available from most UK pharmacies, especially independent stores. This contains "Opium Tincture", at 0.083 mL, per 5 mL. United States
Tincture of Opium is available by prescription in the United States. It is regulated as a Schedule II drug (No. 9639) under the Controlled Substances Act. In the United States, opium tincture is marketed and distributed by several pharmaceutical firms, each producing a single formulation of the drug, which is deodorized. Each mL contains 10 mg of anhydrous morphine (the equivalent of 100 mg of powdered opium), other opium alkaloids (except noscapine), and ethanol, 19%. It is available packaged in bottles of four US fluid ounces (118 mL) and 16 US fluid ounces (1 US pt; 473 mL). Tincture of Opium is known as one of many "unapproved drugs" regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the marketing and distribution of opium tincture prevails today only because opium tincture was sold prior to the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act of 1938. Its "grandfathered" status protects opium tincture from being required to undergo strict FDA drug reviews and subsequent approval processes. However, the FDA closely monitors the labeling of opium tincture. Bottles of opium tincture are required by the FDA to bear a bright red "POISON" label given the potency of the drug and the potential for overdose (see discussion about confusion with Paregoric below).
In Philippa Gregorys novel Wideacre (1987), the main character Beatrice Lacey nearly becomes addicted to laudanum when her eventual husband Dr. John MacAndrew prescribes it to her after her mothers death. In the adaptation Interview with the Vampire (1994), which was based on the 1976 novel with the same name, Claudia uses laudanum to try and dispose of Lestat: Under the pretext of making peace, she offers him some drunk noble-blood twins to feed on, when she actually had them overdosed with the said drug. In the film Tombstone (1993), Mattie Earp (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), Wyatt Earps wife is addicted to laudanum. At the beginning of the film at the train station after her husband introduces her to his brothers and sisters-in-law she states, "Well, Wyatt, I couldnt find a single store that had laudanum anywhere." Her sister-in-law Louisa Earp (Lisa Collins) later said " Matter, Honey? Did you say you needed some laudanum? [...] I have some right here," hands Mattie a bottle and says, "Just be careful, now. Its full of hop," to which Mattie replies, "Oh, dont worry. I just get headaches sometimes." Later in the bedroom she and Wyatt shares, Mattie drinking out of a bottle, shows the effects of laudanum, hiding the bottle as Wyatt enters the bedroom asking, "Is that the opium Lou gave you? Its a new bottle, isnt it?