Psychoactive Politics: The Global Confluence of Opioids, Authority, and Revolution

From the Chinese Opium Wars to the American fentanyl crisis — mind-altering substances affecting world history

Midjourney AI: A surreal montage that features Mao Zedong trying to eradicate poppy fields in the foreground amid iconic Communist imagery

This is an excerpt from Sky Gods and the Recipe for Immortality: The secret influence of psychoactivity over science, society, and the supernatural.

In 2022, the CDC reported that fentanyl, a potent opioid, is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18–45. Across history, the current fentanyl crisis in the United States is darkly reminiscent of the Chinese 1800s Opium Wars.

Illustration of Chinese opium smokers from the 1800s

Centuries ago, the Qing dynasty fought to stop Western capitalists from importing opium into China. The Qing resistance failed, and colonial empires richly profited from the opium trade while the Chinese population became crippled by addiction.

More recently, the Drug Enforcement Agency reported the opioid crisis in modern America:

“Currently, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express…