Yes, "The First Opium War (Chinese: 第一次鴉片戰爭; pinyin: Dìyīcì Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1842, during the Century of humiliation. The immediate issue was the Chinese seizure of private opium stocks at Canton to stop the banned opium trade, and threatening the death penalty for future offenders. The British government insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition among nations, and backed the merchants' demands."[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_war

I was going to guess they were thinking of the CIA's "Golden Triangle", which operated similarly and makes a narratively nice "turnabout is fair play" argument[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_traffi...

As the OP says, every state has been doing this stuff since forever.

The US has had maintain a certain "better than that" image at times but states have managed their images for a long time too.

Are you referring to the Opium Wars?

Sun Tzu?