Milk of Paradise

As the careers of physicians and apothecaries became more clearly delineated, more regulated and highly respected, the moveable-type printing press was developed in Strasbourg by Johannes Gutenberg between 1440 and 1455. This led to a rush of manuals, dictionaries and treatises on medicine, as well as every other subject of interest in the Renaissance. El Ricettario (1499) was Florence’s famous contribution to medical recipe books, and it was declared to be a book that ‘no household should be without’. Such publications in turn led to more interest in all of these subjects from both professionals literate laypeople. More students pursued a medical career, creating a shortage in cadavers available for study, leading medical establishments and physicians to request the bodies of executed criminals to further their studies.

The success of HSBC, now the largest bank operating in the world today, proves the pivotal importance of Hong Kong’s location. It may have been rocky, steep, impossibly humid, disease-ridden and prone to typhoons, but this ‘wild and uncouth state’ had opium, and on that one commodity, it rapidly built one of the world’s great trading centres.

Our reality is that humanity is yoked to opiates for the foreseeable future, whether we are casualties of war, surgery, chronic illness or pain; whether we are facing up to a compromised life or death itself. The mode of delivery may differ, but in every form, from a patch or a pill or an intravenous driver, we are all seeking the key that fits the lock in our bodies, minds and hearts. And this won’t end, nor should it. To struggle, to endure and to survive is all we can do, and it is as noble an endeavour as any. The natural world has offered humanity a compound that has evolved to ease our worst fears, and smooth horrendous physical torment. This single fact pulls social, economic, scientific and humanitarian factors into a churning morass of bliss, horror, luxury, depredation, good and evil. The gross crimes concerning opiates committed by gangsters, and by governments in the name of commercial freedom or human rights over the last two centuries, reveal the utter hypocrisy of those who purport to rule their kingdoms. Just as addicts seek to absent themselves from reality and physicians seek to doctor, businesses seek to profit and governments attempt to control. Within all of these parameters, economies are built, both legal and illegal, petty and international. And whether they be sidewalk dope dealers or pharmaceutical giants, merchants know no country, just as the search for even a glimpse of paradise is constant and without end.