Is it at all possible to have large numbers of people in the British colonies such as India or even the homeland to become addicted to opium? My idea was that it might spread from merchants bringing it to China. Since the opium was made in India it doesn't seem unlikely it could have spread out of control. Could a British competitor have done it, such as France? Or is it possible for individual groups in a neighboring country to bring them in to meet demand (aka US-Mexico situation). Perhaps people in french Indochina to bring drugs north to China and west to Burma and India. Regardless my goal is to have large numbers of natives, colonists, or both addicted to opium with a pod after they started shipping it into China.