Opium smoking began only after the early Europeans in North America discovered the Indian practice of smoking tobacco in pipes. Some smokers began to mix opium with tobacco in their pipes, and smoking gradually became the preferred method of taking opium. Opium smoking was introduced into China from Java in the 17th century and spread rapidly. The Chinese authorities reacted by prohibiting the sale of opium, but these edicts were largely ignored. During the 18th century European traders found in China an expanding and profitable market for the drug, and the opium trade enabled them to acquire Chinese goods such as silk and tea without having to spend precious gold and silver. Opium addiction became widespread in China, and the Chinese government’s attempts to prohibit the import of opium from British-ruled India brought it into direct conflict with the British government. As a result of their defeat in the Opium Wars, the Chinese were compelled to legalize the importation of opium in 1858. Opium addiction remained a problem in Chinese society until the Communists came to power in 1949 and eradicated the practice. Opium – Poppy Cultivation, Morphine and Heroin Manufacture". Erowid.org . Retrieved January 25, 2017. a b c Yangwen Zheng (2003). "The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999". Modern Asian Studies. 37 (1): 1–39. doi: 10.1017/S0026749X0300101X. S2CID 146582691. Armero and Rapaport. The Arts of an Addiction. Qing Dynasty Opium Pipes and Accessories (privately printed, 2005) Ouchterlony, John (1844). The Chinese war: an account of all the operations of the British forces from the commencement to the Treaty of Nanking. London: Saunders and Otley.

The first known cultivation of opium poppies was in Mesopotamia, approximately 3400 BCE, by Sumerians, who called the plant hul gil, the "joy plant". [11] [12] Tablets found at Nippur, a Sumerian spiritual center south of Baghdad, described the collection of poppy juice in the morning and its use in production of opium. [1] Cultivation continued in the Middle East by the Assyrians, who also collected poppy juice in the morning after scoring the pods with an iron scoop; they called the juice aratpa-pal, possibly the root of Papaver. [13] Opium production continued under the Babylonians and Egyptians. UNODC – Bulletin on Narcotics – 1950 Issue 3 – 003". United Nations: Office on Drugs and Crime . Retrieved May 5, 2021. Great Britain, India office (1922). The truth about Indian opium. [London] Printed by H.M. Stationery Off. Moran, Jan (2000). Fabulous Fragrances II: A Guide to Prestige Perfumes for Women and Men. Crescent House. p.171. ISBN 0-9639065-4-2. Zhang, Sarah (January 9, 2019). "Why a Medieval Woman Had Lapis Lazuli Hidden in Her Teeth". The Atlantic . Retrieved May 10, 2020.Fueled in part by the 1729 ban on madak, which at first effectively exempted pure opium as a potentially medicinal product, the smoking of pure opium became more popular in the 18th century. In 1736, the smoking of pure opium was described by Huang Shujing, involving a pipe made from bamboo rimmed with silver, stuffed with palm slices and hair, fed by a clay bowl in which a globule of molten opium was held over the flame of an oil lamp. This elaborate procedure, requiring the maintenance of pots of opium at just the right temperature for a globule to be scooped up with a needle-like skewer for smoking, formed the basis of a craft of "paste-scooping" by which servant girls could become prostitutes as the opportunity arose. [47] Chinese diaspora in the West [ edit ] Jennifer Hull (June 24, 2001). "Eastern Europe Shooting Up Under A Red Star". Time . Retrieved April 17, 2020. Opium was for many centuries the principal painkiller known to medicine and was used in various forms and under various names. Laudanum, for example, was an alcoholic tincture (dilute solution) of opium that was used in European medical practice as an analgesic and sedative. Physicians relied on paregoric, a camphorated solution of opium, to treat diarrhea by relaxing the gastrointestinal tract. The narcotic effects of opium are mainly attributable to morphine, which was first isolated about 1804. In 1898 it was discovered that treating morphine with acetic anhydride yields heroin, which is four to eight times as potent as morphine in both its pain-killing properties and its addictive potential. The other alkaloids naturally present in opium are much weaker; codeine, for example, is only one-sixth as potent as morphine and is used mainly for cough relief. Since the late 1930s, various synthetic drugs have been developed that possess the analgesic properties of morphine and heroin. These drugs, which include meperidine (Demerol), methadone, levorphonal, and many others, are known as synthetic opioids. They have largely replaced morphine and heroin in the treatment of severe pain. McCoy, Alfred W. The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991. Windle J (2013). " 'Harms Caused by China's 1906–17 Opium Suppression Intervention' " (PDF). International Journal of Drug Policy. 24 (5): 498–505. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.03.001. PMID 23567100.

Anderson, Stuart; Berridge, Virginia (2000). "Opium In 20th-Century Britain: Pharmacists, Regulation And The People". Addiction. 95 (1): 23–36. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2000.951234.x. PMID 10723823.

Sweet Floral Sensation

Between 400 and 1200 CE, Arab traders introduced opium to China, and to India by 700. [19] [1] [12] [20] The physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi of Persian origin ("Rhazes", 845–930 CE) maintained a laboratory and school in Baghdad, and was a student and critic of Galen; he made use of opium in anesthesia and recommended its use for the treatment of melancholy in Fi ma-la-yahdara al-tabib, "In the Absence of a Physician", a home medical manual directed toward ordinary citizens for self-treatment if a doctor was not available. [21] [22] Association for Asian Studies. Southeast Conference (1979). Annals, Volumes 1–5. The Conference. p.51 . Retrieved April 29, 2011. Agence France-Presse (2008-06-01). "Fashion giant Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71". Archived from the original on 2008-06-03 . Retrieved 2008-11-10. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( February 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Alfred W. McCoy (1972). "The politics of heroin in Southeast Asia". Archived from the original on October 7, 2007 . Retrieved September 24, 2007. a b Rewriting history, A response to the 2008 World Drug Report, Transnational Institute, June 2008 Habighorst, Ludwig V., Reichart, Peter A., Sharma, Vijay, Love for Pleasure: Betel, Tobacco, Wine and Drugs in Indian Miniatures (Koblenz: Ragaputra Edition, 2007) Inglis, Lucy, Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium, Pan Macmillan, London, 2018. **Review: Julie Peakman: "Not Just Smelling the Flowers", History Today History Today Vol. 68/10, October 2018, pp.102–103. Darke S, Zador D (December 1996). "Fatal heroin 'overdose': a review". Addiction. 91 (12): 1765–72. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.1996.911217652.x. PMID 8997759.Smith RD (October 1980). "Avicenna and the Canon of Medicine: a millennial tribute". The Western Journal of Medicine. 133 (4): 367–70. PMC 1272342. PMID 7051568. Drug Addiction Research and the Health of Women – pg. 33–52" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2008 . Retrieved March 21, 2010. Moran, Jan (2000). Fabulous Fragrances II: A Guide to Prestige Perfumes for Women and Men. Crescent House. p.32. ISBN 0-9639065-4-2.

Max Chamka; Translated by Geraldine Ring. "3 grams of opium for 1 dollar". Caucaz europenews . Retrieved May 6, 2007. Karl A. Sporer, M.D. (April 6, 1999). "Acute Heroin Overdose". Annals of Internal Medicine. 130 (7): 584–590. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-130-7-199904060-00019. PMID 10189329. S2CID 22949289. S. Mercadante (1998). "Oral morphine consumption in Italy and Sicily". Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 15 (4): 227–30. doi: 10.1016/S0885-3924(98)00368-6. PMID 9601157. In June 2007, the council launched a "Poppy for Medicines" project that provides a technical blueprint for the implementation of an integrated control system within Afghan village-based poppy for medicine projects: the idea promotes the economic diversification by redirecting proceeds from the legal cultivation of poppy and production of poppy-based medicines. [143] There has been criticism of the Senlis report findings by Macfarlan Smith, who argue that though they produce morphine in Europe, they were never asked to contribute to the report. [144] Cultivation in the UK [ edit ]Suzanne Carr (1995). "MS thesis". Archived from the original on November 8, 2009 . Retrieved May 16, 2007. (citing Andrew Sherratt)