You're the one indulging in revisionist history.
Opium was used in China to treat bronchitis, tuberculosis and other respiratory illnesses. Today we make morphine out of it. Britain is a large producer of opium today.
IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before 1800........................................
opium production in China was on a SMALL scale...............................................
with refining done in a rather sloppy, costly and inefficient way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Opium was referred to as a "Rich Mans Toy"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was generally for rich old guys who were to slow and feeble for more active fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After 1800 - European navigation, ship building skills and map making became good enough......................
that a ship had a DECENT CHANCE of sailing from Europe to China and back.....................................
without being wrecked or captured by pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CHINA NEVER reconciled its contacts with Europeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinese merchants were DELIGHTED with the European gold in exchange for Chinese merchandise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But the Chinese govt REFUSED to meet with the European ambassadors.....................................
unless they performed the Kow Tow....................................
the ritual HEAD BANGING scorned by Europeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So there could NEVER BE any real dealings between govts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neither acknowledged the existence of the other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The resulting pair of "Opium Wars" are the direct result of TRADE IMBALANCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Britain did some QUICK MATH on how much gold was leaving the country on the China trade.................................
and officials were HORRIFIED how quickly Brit gold reserves were being DEPLETED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world was on the Gold Standard....................................
meaning no gold translates into BANKRUPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is something that our LIE-beral govts with their love of worthless paper money are wrestling with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is paper money and trade imbalances that are causing so much friction in international markets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19th Britain DESPERATELY NEEDED SOMETHING to sell to China...................................
OTHER THAN MODERN GUNS AND AMMUNITION.......................................
that Chinese would use to kill Europeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enter OPIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brits figured out how to produce it MUCH FASTER AND CHEAPER than Chinese chemists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HUGE HORDES of Chinese peasants numbed by many hours of daily mind numbing labour...................................
grabbed up opium and enjoyed its ability to let them escape into a happier dream world for a few hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
desperate peasants often had to choose between food and Opium-to which they were ADDICTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Theft and violence and prostitution all flourished as the Opium trade expanded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NEITHER Britain NOR China had the capacity to halt the opium trade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In an era before radar and satellite surveillance......................................
and where a fast wooden sailing ship could be built on any creek-side yard............................................
the trade was UNSTOPPABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As the trade expanded in China..........................................
it fostered MASSIVE CORRUPTION......................................
Govt authority disappeared as drug gangs BOUGHT OFF OR KILLED those who opposed them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By 1860- a HUGE majority of the ENTIRE CHINESE POPULATION................................................
between 16 and 55 was ADDICTED TO OPIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The addicts INCLUDED The Dowager Empress Tsu-Tse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the late 1800`s it became obvious to ALL that opium addiction was a SERIOUS DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Opium was dangerous to the health of the addict....................................
and drug gangs were dangerous to the social order and stability of society!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Britain began making efforts to halt opium production in its territories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Chinese people began to recognize that national independence had been seriously compromised by OPIUM.........................
so China took MAJOR EFFORTS to ELIMINATE ADDICTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinese thinking was sound........................................
If there are no addicts........................................
then there is NO MARKET EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinese cops began rounding up addicts and sending them to treatment centres.........................
these addicts were seen as VICTIMS of an insidious foreign trade...........................
the addicts were treated kindly until their physical addiction and craving for the drug faded................................
then they were released.............................................
addicts who returned to addiction and got caught were treated as slow learners........................
they STILL GOT SENT to the treatment centre..............................
but once they returned to health.....................................
they had to WORK OFF WHAT THEY OWED to society...........................................
doing whatever work was needed at the treatment centre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An addict caught for a third time was deemed a MORON .............................................
but that third fall DID still earn treatment....................................
but the recovered addict would have major bills to work off before being released!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If the addict got caught a fourth time......................................
then it earned them a rope around the neck........................................
or a bullet in the head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for drug dealers who got caught under the new regime..................................
IMMEDIATE EXECUTION was the ONLY RECOURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO jail..............................
No rehabilitation...........................................
Just LIGHTS OUT for dealers AND GOOD RIDDANCE to social parasites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And THAT is how China resolved its MASSIVE OPIUM PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!