The Opium Wars Author:W. Travis Hanes III and Frank Sanello Few events in the history of the international narcotics trade are more tragic than the Opium Wars that devastated China in the mid-nineteenth century. Between 1839 and 1860, Great Britain fought two fierce battles to force the opening of ports crucial to its implementation of the drug in to China. Britain relied on the imposed sale of opium t... more »o offset the trade imbalance created by the nation's seemingly unquenchable thirst for Chinese tea. The cost to China was staggering: tens of thousands dead, millions of dollars paid in war reparations, and as much as ten percent of the population addicted to the drug.« less