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The History of Opium and How Pharmaceutical Companies Deliberately Create Addictions

The Health Wyze Report

By Sarah C. Corriher

Opium has been used medicinally and recreationally for centuries. Fifteenth century China doctors used opium for medicine, with some using it recreationally. It was the first effective antidepressant, sedative, and pain reliever. However, opium addictions only began in the eighteenth century, when the British began to monopolize the sale of opium. It is no coincidence that when the British, with their chemical industry, began selling opium that these chemically altered opiums began creating addictions. Completely natural, unadulterated plants are not addictive until they have been "refined" and concentrated. As a result of what the British did, opium eventually became illegal under Chinese law, but the sale from the British continued.

In 1839, the Emperor, Tao Kwang, ordered his minister Lin Tse-hsu to deal with the opium problem. Lin requested help from Queen Victoria, but was ignored. As a result, the Emperor confiscated 20,000 barrels of opium and detained some foreign traders, many of whom were British. The Chinese believed that because their ceramics and silk technologies were superior to their British counterparts that their naval ships would also be. They were wrong. The British retaliated to this interference with their drug ("medical") trade by attacking the port-city of Canton.

This was the beginning of what would become known as the 'First Opium War'. It was launched by the biggest, richest drug cartel that the world has ever known; the British Empire. When the Chinese were defeated, they had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. They were required to allow the trade of opium, to make large payments to the British, and even to open five new ports to the foreign drug ("medical") trade. They were also forced to give Hong Kong to Britain. Opium was, technically, still an illegal substance in China, but the Chinese were forced to accept British imports.

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