If the Chinese knew the effects of this harmful drug called Opium, why would they keep on using it? There is a simple answer to this question plaguing our minds; it was because they were addicted. "As the quantity he had smoked began to act upon his system, his features kindled up from the solid composed state they had been in previously. Still he lay tranquilly in the same posture with out any symptoms of uneasiness." As described in the text "Opium and the Exotic East," people, although warned of the hazards, continued to smoke opium clearly because they enjoyed the effects that it took on their bodies. Opium entered the Chinese markets with a boom around the nineteenth century. As described in "Opium Regimes," opium was imported for many economic reasons, but this excuse does not mean that the Chinese were forced to smoke the drug. Judging by the euphoria after an opium smoking secession and the frequency of these secessions, leads me to believe that smoking opium, and addiction for that, matter were the choice of individuals.
In the text "Missionaries and Opium," the author states how people would start using opium for medicinal reasons, for instance to "cure the toothache" or "to get rid of the headache." The missionary who wrote this passage would travel around China and preach against the use of opium. But opium, like any drug, can allow a person to become addicted. The author even says how once "the habit has fastened itself on the victim, the usual quantity will not long assuage the pain. and in order to relieve it, larger and larger quantities must be used from time to time." This excerpt demonstrates that the more a person smokes the more addicted he is going to get. Also in the text, the author says how when a guest would come over to their house it would be a sign of hospitality to offer someone to smoke with them. These gestures of generosity make it even more prevalent that opium was becoming common place, and so were the addictions.