Opium first began as an offshoot of tobacco smoking. After tobacco had been introduced to China it eventually became a cash crop. Portuguese had originally hoped to ship Brazilian tobacco to China but it quickly became a national habit and was grown in fields outside major cities walls. Very early evidence of opium smoking goes back as far as 1617, but first real significant appearances don’t occur until 1723-1724, when the smoking of opium mixed with plants or tobacco is described. Charles de Constant discusses what he calls widespread smoking or opium and tobacco in Cant

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