Was opium a common medication before the modern era of medicine

True.

Explanation:

Opium, extracted from poppy seed, is still used as an anesthetic for chronic pain. But 100 years ago it had very dubious therapeutic purposes. Before the era of modern medicine, opium was indicated to calm agitated children, women diagnosed with hysteria and other things. Already pure opium vapor, heated in a pan, served as inhalation for asthmatics. In short, opium was a very common drug.

the eruption had an obsurd amount of destructioon.