Gerin oil or geriniol is a fictional drug used as a device to criticize religion in articles written by Richard Dawkins. The word is an anagram of "religion". The first article, Gerin Oil, was published in an American secular humanism publication, Free Inquiry, in December 2003 (Volume 24, No. 1). It was popularised in an article titled Opiate of the Masses. It describes a dangerous legal drug "Gerin Oil" or "Geriniol." Dawkins blames its effects as being responsible for historic acts of violence such as the September 11th attacks, massacres of native South Americans by conquistadors, and the Salem Witch Trials.