A relaxing smoke of opium. An opium den in China in 1942 from LIFE Magazine
Man has been indulging in the pleasures of the poppy since at last 4200 B.C., but it was in the 15th century in China that the smoking of opium was refined into the culture we think of today. In the 15th century, the drug and addiction became such an issue that the Qing Dynasty attempted to ban opium. That led to Britain and France launching wars with China over British and French companies’ right to sell the relatively cheap drug to the Chinese people.
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