I am basing most of my information on parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Laos. Several sources discussed Muslim attitudes and I lackadaisically applied that to the Middle East. My apologies.

I still stand by my replaced wording in the blog post, “Opium would merely be smoked like it still is in numerous parts of South Asia.”

I am more careful about by assertions in my book (over 2,000 footnotes) than on my blog. Now that I know people are actually reading the blog, I will be attentive in the future. Thanks for reading and taking the time to correct me.

Opium is illegal everywhere due to American diplomatic pressure, but that does not mean the law is enforced everywhere. Opium is smoked publicly in the Middle East. It is a traditional Arabic medicine and Islamic clerics consider alcohol a greater concern.

However, I do agree my wording was poor as it implied opium is widely used as a social drug in the Middle East. Hashish smoking, not opium smoking, is common for that purpose.

Because of this I will change the wording from “Opium would merely be smoked in cafes like it still is in the Middle East,” to “Opium would merely be smoked like it still is in numerous parts of South Asia.”

Please e-mail if you would like documentation of these assertions. Thanks for reading my blog.