The Marxist view is that religion is the opium of the people, a false consolation for life's miseries.

ECONOMIST: Pentecostals

In Cuba itself, the stand-off is a Marx-send, an opium of the people.

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Marx talks about religion being the opium of the people, but here we all are creating our own opium, these kind of illusory reasons to keep ourselves subdued.

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The output of opium in the Wa Special Region No. 2 may not have brought great prosperity to the people, but Chairman Bao has made a fortune through the production and trafficking of drugs.

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Opium contained in the traditional breed of poppy has been used by people all over the world for hundreds of years as an effective analgesic.

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People know the horrific history of the Opium Wars (a war that was fought to allow the British to continue drug trafficking), the subsequent colonization of Hong Kong, and the atrocities of the Rape of Nanking.

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Between these villages on the mountain fringe plains of Afghanistan, and the peddler of heroin in Britain and elsewhere, there's a shadowy chain of people, beginning with traders in local bazaars who buy the opium.

BBC: Afghanistan's opium harvest