Opium

The narcotic and painkilling properties of opium have been known since prehistoric times. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, opium was produced in some areas of Egypt, Asia Minor and Bengal. Opium and its various derivatives were marketed as a medicine and also as a recreational drug throughout Asia.

By 1830, the British had become the major drug-traffickers in the world. The British Empire supported opium trafficking to China, which was an enormous market. The Opium Act of 1878 strengthened the role of opium as a cornerstone of the British imperial economic policy in the Far East.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, as a result of the expanding British Empire, opium also became available in Britain and soon it was as popular as alcohol. However, the bulk of opium imports to Britain came not from India but from Turkey.