The other day I was thinking about the movie “Temptress Moon” by Chen Kaige, specifically about the way two of the characters in it were poisoned. Both of them opium fiends, their pipes were spiked with arsenic; this had the effect of turning them into gray-complexioned vegetables. Is this something that could actually happen, or, as I kind of suspect, is it purely cinematic license? Wouldn’t actual arsenic poisoning just kill you outright?