Sam Kelly explains how Queen Victoria became a huge fan of drugs—and how she brought China to its knees because of it.

The First Opium War wasn’t just about drugs it was about trade, empire, and clashing worldviews. This video explores why Britain went to war with China in 1839, using opium as leverage to force open ...

China fought two Opium Wars with Europe in the 1800s while suffering a crisis of opium addiction. Is it now seeking revenge by flooding the U.S. with synthetic opioids today?

In 'Smoke and Ashes,' Amitav Ghosh draws comparisons between America's modern opioid crisis and the West's flooding of China with opium in the 18th century.

Less than two decades after the First Opium War, Britain launched another brutal campaign against Qing China this time with ...

China dominates the global fentanyl trade, helping to both supply the raw materials to produce the deadly drug.

Dr. W. H. G. Aspland, General Secretary of the International Anti-Opium Association in Peking, says: "In two districts in South Fu-Kien the military authorities are planning to raise ...

While synthetic opiods are a relatively new class of drugs, opium has a long destructive history in trade wars and warfare, beginning with the First Opium War.

The Opium Wars signalled the start of what is referred to as the“century of humiliation” in China, a period when the country was colonized and dictated to by foreign powers .