They offered me companionship as I dealt with the trauma of my mother's lifelong struggle with an opioid addiction, the fact that I didn't know who or where my birth father was.
The fatigue of my body from not having slept on the former night, co-operating with the strong opiates administered to me in profusion, at length procured me that repose of which I was so much in need.
The most popular potion among the wealthy was theriac, which apparently was very difficult to prepare and had up to 80 ingredients, including quite a lot of opium.
It didn't also help that the British introduced dangerous substances to them, like alcohol and opium, that they had no history of experience or restraint with.
And 13th century Arab surgeon Ibn al-Quff described patients taking anesthetics, likely inhaling drugs like cannabis, opium, and mandrake, from saturated sponges.