Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium Gift set

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John Richards (May 23, 2001). "Opium and the British Indian Empire" . Retrieved September 24, 2007.

Ahmad, Diana L. The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth-century American West (University of Nevada Press, 2007). Drugs and Racism in the Old West.

Opium prohibition in China began in 1729, yet was followed by nearly two centuries of increasing opium use. A massive destruction of opium by an emissary of the Chinese Daoguang Emperor in an attempt to stop opium smuggling by the British led to the First Opium War (1839–1842), in which Britain defeated China. After 1860, opium use continued to increase with widespread domestic production in China. By 1905, an estimated 25 percent of the male population were regular consumers of the drug. Recreational use of opium elsewhere in the world remained rare into late in the 19th century, as indicated by ambivalent reports of opium usage. [44] In 1906, 41,000 tons were produced, but because 39,000 tons of that year's opium were consumed in China, overall usage in the rest of the world was much lower. [48] These figures from 1906 have been criticized as overestimates. [49] A Chinese opium house; photographed in 1902 Bradley, James (2009). The Imperial Cruise: a secret history of empire and war. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-0-316-00895-2.

W. R. Martin & H. F. Fraser (September 1, 1961). "A comparative study of subjective and physiological effects of heroin and morphine administered intravenously in postaddicts". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 133 (3): 388–399. PMID 13767429 . Retrieved June 6, 2007.

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. [151] Taken thirty minutes prior to meals, it significantly slows intestinal motility, giving the intestines greater time to absorb fluid in the stool.