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[China hasn’t forgotten about the Opium Dens.]

Opium has entered Chinese mythology as the reason that it fell behind. It’s also BS. Opium wasn’t just sold in China. It was sold and consumed throughout the world, in more concentrated and dangerous forms like laudanum, morphine and heroin, completely legally. Sears sold patent medicines whose main ingredient was opium or morphine. It wasn’t until the 1910’s that drug prohibition became part of Western law. (We threw alcohol prohibition into the mix in 1920, as well, only to repeal that in the 1930’s).

China itself has a long history of experience with opium and other narcotic drugs. Opium was introduced there in the 7th century. 2nd century China saw experimentation with poisonous substances* like the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold-Food_Powder. You might consider it a distant relative of shrooms, peyote, toad-licking and glue-sniffing.

* A significant number of Han Dynasty emperors died in their early 20’s. My earlier guess was that poisoning or assassination by dynastic rivals was involved. Another possibility? Excessive use of Cold Food Powder.