The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military's seizure of power as the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, according to a new United Nations report.

A riveting new history of opium, a lucrative and destructive flower. Amitav Ghosh’s sweeping, forcefully written ‘Smoke and Ashes’ covers centuries in the life of the plant.

Opium traces have been discovered in Israel in vessels used in burial rituals by the ancient Canaanites, providing one of the world's earliest evidences of use of the drug.

Opium poppy production in Afghanistan, long the world's dominant supplier of the raw material for heroin, has risen by a fifth in the second full year since the Taliban banned it but remains a ...

A case in point is the small instrument of ancient Asian tradition that, in popular parlance, became known as the "opium scale" in the late 19th century, ... viscid stuff, which is just sufficiently ...

The opium dens "patronized by the lower classes defy description," the paper said, but gave it a go anyway: "Imagine a room less than fifteen feet square, with a ceiling about eight feet high.

The United States is losing the New Opium War with China. Leaders in Washington, D.C. appear unwilling to acknowledge that a fight even exists. A crisis of addiction in China in the 19th century ...

Three people have been arrested following a coordinated opium sting operation involving a fruit and vegetable shop in south Auckland. Counties Manukau Police's Organised Crime Unit conducted ...

Afghan opium cultivation bouncing back amid Taliban clampdown. Poppy planting remains far below pre-ban levels, United Nations reports, despite rise of 19 percent year on year.

The production of opium increased sharply in Myanmar, rising to a nine-year high, according to the UN. It touched nearly 795 metric tonnes in 2022, nearly double the production in 2021 - 423 ...

Despite the abundance of evidence for opium use in Crete, Cyprus, Spain, Egypt, and ancient Sumer, scholars have debated whether or not there was much opium trade in the Levant.

Swans that became addicted to eating opium poppies have been forced to go cold turkey after invading a farmer's field. In February, hundreds of swans began arriving at the poppy field near ...