Now even legitimate trade is limited to barter. A concurrent drive against native poppy growing is initiated. As a result, throughout the first half of the 19th century, the incidence of opium dependance appears to have increased steadily in Enland, Europe and the United States. Opium becomes identified with official corruption, criminals and antigovernment secret societies. An imperial edict prohibits domestic cultivation and repeats the prohibition against importing opium.
China develops an anti-opium policy, at least on paper.
This may have been the first plant alkaloid ever isolated and set off a firestorm of research into plant alkaloids. An awareness grows of endemic opium use among Fenish peoples, who both tolerate and successfully control their use by informal social mechanisms. Use is particularly widespread among poorer classes, agricultural populations, the inhabitants of small hamlets and isolated farms, and women and babies. 1839 Opium and its preparations are responsible for more premature deaths than any other chemical agent. 3 References 1 .