We live in a drug taking society, strongly bound by our beliefs and social attitudes. This history of the emergence of drugs is really fascinating.
We live in a drug taking society, strongly bound by our beliefs and social attitudes. This history of the emergence of drugs is really fascinating. Not that long ago, patent medicines and tonics contained opium and laudanum; heroin was given for childbirth pain and to cancer patients; and cannabis was sold for asthma relief (Ref. a social history of drug use – Australian Justice and Police Museum, Aug 2004).
Doctor Opiate was the name given to Dutchman JB van Helmond, founder of iatrochemistry (scientific pharmacology), because of his love and open admiration for the substance opium, which he considered to be the philosopher’s stone of healing. His records of the benefits of opium are well recorded. (Ref. A Brief History of Drugs by A Escohotado.) more history in main article.