Opium was the drug of choice for many Romantic poets and authors; its popularity carried into the Victorian Era. Opium became one of Britain's primary trade commodities in the East.  Opium, when mixed with wine or water was called laudanum, the most popular derivative of the drug. http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/science/addiction/addiction2.html By the year 1830 Britain was the biggest drug trafficker in the world.