Morphine, for a cough?

BBC News - Tests show morphine eases coughs

The patients responded quickly to the morphine treatment, which started at 5mg twice daily.

This benefit peaked after five days of treatment and continued through the remaining four weeks of the trial.

All of the patients had suffered from their persistent cough for at least three months.

[. . .]

Dr Morice explained: "Chronic cough can have a devastating effect on the quality of life of sufferers.

I'm sure that a chronic cough is miserable, but morphine seems like an awfully strong and potentially dangerous drug to prescribe for a cough. But then again, I'm no doctor.