Why do some drugs end with the suffix -ine?
Drugs ending with "ine" are alkaloids. They are bitter tasting
and in all cases poisonous, probably a protection for the plants
that produce them. All of them contain nitrogen, and in small doses
are used as drugs. Although opium does not end in "ine", it
contains a cocktail of 26 alkaloids that do end in "ine", the most
significant being morphine and codeine.