opium

noun2

1. •
   A yellow-brown, addictive narcotic drug obtained from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine.

   • From hence we first sailed to Achin, in the island of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for some arrack and opium, the last of which bore a great price among the Chinese:[…] — 1777
2. •
   Anything that numbs or stupefies.

   • Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, […] It is the opium of the people. — 1843