From the earliest finds, opium has appeared to have ritual significance, and anthropologists have speculated ancient priests may have used the drug as a proof of healing power. [11] In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, its invention is credited to Thoth, and it was said to have been given by Isis to Ra as treatment for a headache. [1] A figure of the Minoan "goddess of the narcotics", wearing a crown of three opium poppies, c. 1300 BCE, was recovered from the Sanctuary of Gazi, Crete, together with a simple smoking apparatus. [14] [15] The Persian physician Abū ‘Alī al-Husayn ibn Sina ("Avicenna") described opium as the most powerful of the stupefacients, in comparison to mandrake and other highly effective herbs, in The Canon of Medicine. The text lists medicinal effects of opium, such as analgesia, hypnosis, antitussive effects, gastrointestinal effects, cognitive effects, respiratory depression, neuromuscular disturbances, and sexual dysfunction. It also refers to opium's potential as a poison. Avicenna describes several methods of delivery and recommendations for doses of the drug. [24] This classic text was translated into Latin in 1175 and later into many other languages and remained authoritative until the 19th century. [25] Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu used opium in the 14th-century Ottoman Empire to treat migraine headaches, sciatica, and other painful ailments. [26] Reintroduction to Western medicine [ edit ] Latin translation of Avicenna's Canon of Medicine, 1483 Manuscripts of Pseudo-Apuleius's 5th-century work from the 10th and 11th centuries refer to the use of wild poppy Papaver agreste or Papaver rhoeas (identified as P. silvaticum) instead of P. somniferum for inducing sleep and relieving pain. [27] 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. Xiao, Shuiyuan; Yang, Mei; Zhou, Liang; Hao, Wei (February 2015). "Transition of China's drug policy: problems in practice". Addiction. 110 (2): 193–4. doi: 10.1111/add.12689. PMID 25602038.

Alper KR, Lotsof HS, Kaplan CD (January 2008). "The ibogaine medical subculture". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 115 (1): 9–24. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2007.08.034. PMID 18029124. Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine: a note on pharmaceutics" . Retrieved June 6, 2007.This opium latex is about 12% morphine, which is the opiate that is used to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids. The latex also contains the opiates, codeine and thebaine. Opium produces its effects by activating specific G protein-coupled receptors in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. There are three major classes of opioid receptors being δ-opioid, κ-opioid and μ-opioid. Opium will generate an agonist activity which will later open the potassium channels and prevent the opening of voltage-gated calcium channels. This activity causes a reduction in neuronal excitability and inhibits the release of pain neurotransmitters. 9 In Eastern culture, opium is more commonly used in the form of paregoric to treat diarrhea. This is a weaker solution than laudanum, an alcoholic tincture which was prevalently used as a pain medication and sleeping aid. Tincture of opium has been prescribed for, among other things, severe diarrhea. [148] Taken thirty minutes prior to meals, it significantly slows intestinal motility, giving the intestines greater time to absorb fluid in the stool.

Map showing the amount of opium produced in China in 1908: The quote "We English, by the policy we have pursued, are morally responsible for every acre of land in China which is withdrawn from the cultivation of grain and devoted to that of the poppy; so that the fact of the growth of the drug in China ought only to increase our sense of responsibility." is by Lord Justice Fry. The opium trade under the Chinese Communist Party was important to its finances in the 1940s. [82] Peter Vladimirov's diary provided a first hand account. [83] Chen Yung-fa provided a detailed historical account of how the opium trade was essential to the economy of Yan'an during this period. [84] Mitsubishi and Mitsui were involved in the opium trade during the Japanese occupation of China. [85] YSL Opium For Men is a crisp, woody oriental aftershave that combines a rich but dry blend of spices and sandlwood.J.P. Jones (February 1931). "Lascars in the port of London". P.L.A. Monthly . Retrieved May 12, 2007. Robinson SL, Rowbotham DJ, Smith G (July 1991). "Morphine compared with diamorphine. A comparison of dose requirements and side-effects after hip surgery". Anaesthesia. 46 (7): 538–40. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1991.tb09650.x. PMID 1862890. S2CID 35289009. Stephen Harding; Lee Ann Olivier & Olivera Jokic. "Victorians' Secret: Victorian Substance Abuse". Archived from the original on May 31, 2007 . Retrieved May 2, 2007.

Habighorst, Ludwig V., Reichart, Peter A., Sharma, Vijay, Love for Pleasure: Betel, Tobacco, Wine and Drugs in Indian Miniatures (Koblenz: Ragaputra Edition, 2007) 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. The earliest clear description of the use of opium as a recreational drug in China came from Xu Boling, who wrote in 1483 that opium was "mainly used to aid masculinity, strengthen sperm and regain vigor", and that it "enhances the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies". He also described an expedition sent by the Ming dynasty Chenghua Emperor in 1483 to procure opium for a price "equal to that of gold" in Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Shaanxi, where it is close to the western lands of Xiyu. A century later, Li Shizhen listed standard medical uses of opium in his renowned Compendium of Materia Medica (1578), but also wrote that "lay people use it for the art of sex," in particular the ability to "arrest seminal emission". This association of opium with sex continued in China until the end of the 19th century.

Merwin, Samuel (1907). Drugging a nation, the story of China and the opium curse; a personal investigation, during an extended tour, of the present conditions of the opium trade in China and its effects upon the nation. New York, Chicago [etc.]: F. H. Revell company.