January 2008 marked the month when all Dutch shops pulled both dried stems of any ephedra species and any product containing ephedrine—a natural stimulant drug with effects identical to amphetamine, which chemists call deoxyephedrine—from their shelves.

In Rome, drugs were regulated by the Lex Cornelia, and while many substances were used, opium was the most common for pain treatment and forgetting life's troubles (Torres et al. 1997: 12).