Analgesics, otherwise known as painkillers, include a wide variety of chemicals that all serve the function of reducing pain. They include synthetic drugs as well as naturally derived chemicals from plants. Salicylic acid and morphine are two such natural products. Salicylic acid can come from a variety of sources, but most famously from plants in the willow family, Salicaceae. Their Latin name is Salix, which is also the derivation of the name for salicylic acid, a secondary metabolite that acts as a signal of invasion from pathogens. Apart from playing a crucial role in a plant’s immune response, salicylic acid has also affected humans as a medicinal compound. In the 1800s a synthetic form, acetylsalicylic acid, was created and marketed under the name ‘Aspirin.’ The opium and bread poppy, Papaver somniferum, is a large annual herb that has been used throughout history for food, drink, and medicinal purposes. Morphine was isolated from the opium poppy in 1804. The increase in its medicinal use brought on the realization of its addictive properties. Pharmacists then began exploring different ways to create the pain relieving effects of morphine without the addictive properties. Heroin was thought to be the answer to this issue, but was soon recognized as being just as addictive due to heroin being converted to morphine in the body. Codeine is almost identical to morphine, but only 10% of the intake is metabolized into morphine. Be it in nature or in the hands of humans, analgesics are very powerful chemicals.