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Joyce A. Madancy (April 2004). "The Troublesome Legacy of Commissioner Lin" . Retrieved September 25, 2007.

The renowned Andalusian ophthalmologic surgeon Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi ("Abulcasis", 936–1013 CE) relied on opium and mandrake as surgical anesthetics and wrote a treatise, al-Tasrif, that influenced medical thought well into the 16th century. [23] Opium – Poppy Cultivation, Morphine and Heroin Manufacture". Erowid.org . Retrieved January 25, 2017.

The first known cultivation of opium poppies was in Mesopotamia, approximately 3400 BCE, by Sumerians, who called the plant hul gil, the "joy plant". [11] [12] Tablets found at Nippur, a Sumerian spiritual center south of Baghdad, described the collection of poppy juice in the morning and its use in production of opium. [1] Cultivation continued in the Middle East by the Assyrians, who also collected poppy juice in the morning after scoring the pods with an iron scoop; they called the juice aratpa-pal, possibly the root of Papaver. [13] Opium production continued under the Babylonians and Egyptians. John Richards (May 23, 2001). "Opium and the British Indian Empire" . Retrieved September 24, 2007. Duarte DF: [Opium and opioids: a brief history.]. Rev Bras Anestesiol. 2005 Feb;55(1):135-46. [ Article] Traditionally the unripened pod is slit open and the sap seeps out and dries on the outer surface of the pod. The resulting yellow-brown latex, which is scraped off of the pod, is bitter in taste and contains varying amounts of alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, thebaine and papaverine. Heroin which is derived from opium is most often injected, however, it may also be vaporized (or smoked), sniffed (also known as snorting), used as a rectal suppository, or orally ingested by mouth.Carstairs C. (2006). "Jailed for Possession: Illegal Drug Use, Regulation, and Power in Canada, 1920–61". Archived from the original on January 25, 2003. Pablo Bartholomew (1996). "Opium for the masses: photo essay on cultivation of opium in India". Archived from the original on July 1, 2007 . Retrieved June 15, 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. Despite drastic penalties and continued prohibition of opium until 1860, opium smuggling rose steadily from 200 chests per year under the Yongzheng Emperor to 1,000 under the Qianlong Emperor, 4,000 under the Jiaqing Emperor, and 30,000 under the Daoguang Emperor. [61] The illegal sale of opium became one of the world's most valuable single commodity trades and has been called "the most long continued and systematic international crime of modern times". [62] Opium smuggling provided 15 to 20 percent of the British Empire's revenue and simultaneously caused scarcity of silver in China. [63]