In Mesopotamia, a. The first written reference to opium or lo-herb is 3200, which confirms at least the ludic use of the plant, which called opium “goce weed”.

In Ancient Egypt he was given medicinal use, as explained in various hieroglyphs and in the papyrus Ebers. It served, among other things, to prevent young children from screaming out loud.

In Greece they named him; Hippocrates told him farewell mekonos (lo-belar juice) and hence the word opium. Herodotus, in the 15th century BC. In 425 he described the analgesic and anti-diarrheal effect of the drug and recommended the children to sleep.

C. in Rome The data collected in 312 are very significant. It is sold in 793 shops in the city and turnover accounted for 15% of tax revenue. However, there does not appear to be a serious problem of addiction, as a number of words were used, for example to name alcoholics, but not a single word has been found to name opioids.

In the Middle Ages, Muslims expanded their use in Europe through the Iberian Peninsula, but it was considered primarily as a drug.

In the 19th century, tobacco consumption was banned in China, which increased opium consumption. It is estimated that three million Chinese consumed it. However, according to Spanish historian Antonio Escohotado, these millions represented only 0.5% of the population and consumption had little influence on the active population of the country. However, the emperor decided to suspend the opium market. And the British took this as an excuse for the Opium War (1839-1942 and 1856-1860).

In the West, opium has since generated numerous internal conflicts. They created morphine to solve the problem, and they would have the virtues of the drug, but without creating addictions. The synthesis of the active substance and the use of the syringe only increased the problem. Thus, in 1895, the company Bayer registered the morphine remedy and marketed it as cough syrup. She gave her the name of Heroin.