Morphine has a complex molecular structure; because of this, the production of morphine and similar painkillers is expensive and time-consuming," said study author Fumihiko Sato of Kyoto University. "But with our E. coli, we were able to yield 2.1 miligrams of thebaine in a matter of days from roughly 20 grams of sugar, as opposed to 0.0064 mg with yeast.