Like fentanyl addicts in San Francisco, ancient Chinese had their drug of choice – 5-rock powder
- Synthetic opioid fentanyl destroys lives in today’s America. In ancient China people ground up five minerals to create a drug that produced feelings of euphoria
- Five-rock powder also lightened complexions, but left some withered; had other ill-effects; and caused users to plunge into icy baths. Slowly its use died out
Late one night, at a streetcar stop in San Francisco, a dishevelled man, thin as a rake, approached us and asked if we could give him some money to buy dinner. He was very young, but bent forward, his back almost perpendicular with his lower body – probably a habitual user of fentanyl, the drug that’s been destroying so many lives in San Francisco.
The online videos are real. In the city’s downtown, we saw scores of addicts roaming the streets at all hours of the day, some petrified, literally, by the effects of “tranq dope”, a combination of fentanyl and animal tranquilliser.
Like most people in San Francisco and other big cities, we instinctively ignored the young man, inwardly justifying our indifference with vague rationalisations of not wanting to be enablers of substance abuse or street begging.
But these excuses we told ourselves quickly gave way to the heartbreaking reality right in front of us: a cold, desperately hungry man was asking us for help. We went into a nearby gas station and bought him some sandwiches.
Wushisan was very popular among the elites during the period known as the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties (220–589).
Some historians have postulated that the prevalent use of psychotropic drugs at the time, in addition to widespread alcoholism and the popularity of a philosophy called Mystical Learning, was a coping mechanism for disenchanted intellectuals in that three-and-a-half centuries of intense political and social turmoil.
According to an extant formula, wushisan was made by combining the pulverised forms of five different mineral substances (hence its name): stalactite, amethyst, quartz, sulphur crystal and red halloysite. There might have been other additives.
Users of wushisan reported a feeling of euphoria and heightened sensory perceptions, which were quite likely the effects that many were chasing, but one of its most obvious effects was a marked increase in one’s body temperature.
To dissipate the heat, the user had to take cold foods (hence its alternative name hanshisan – “cold-foods powder”) or icy baths. He could even recline naked on a rock in midwinter, according to a description of the drug’s effects.
Because of its ability to increase blood circulation, wushisan was also taken by men as an aphrodisiac. One unexpected consequence of taking the drug was the lightening of one’s complexion, a standard of beauty much sought after by both men and women of that era.
He Yan (196–249), a senior courtier in the Wei dynasty, whose handsome features and fair skin were feted across the realm, was an avid user of wushisan.
While it is not recorded whether wushisan was addictive, its ill effects were soon apparent. He Yan was later described by a contemporary as looking like ghost with an ashy, withered complexion. Mentally, he was unfocused and confused. Other users reported painful, swollen limbs, breathlessness and coughing fits.
Its popularity waned soon after, and by the Tang dynasty (618–907), no one was taking wushisan any more.
Painkiller on Netflix depicts US opioid crisis. China had one in the 1800s
Unlike wushisan, fentanyl isn’t about to go away on its own. An investigative report by the San Francisco Chronicle reveals that highly organised Honduran cartels are responsible for the cheap, easily available fentanyl on the streets. The city’s politicians and law enforcement agencies continue to wrangle over eradication or harm reduction strategies.
After coming home from the US, I sometimes think of that young man, trapped in a spiral of his wretched circumstances, who came to us for help that night. I can only hope that you’re OK.
