Crossword Genius

State of being half high during opiate abuse (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ethiopia

'state' is the definition.
(I know that Ethiopia is African country)

'half high during opiate abuse' is the wordplay.
'half' suggests halving the letters.
'during' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'abuse' is an anagram indicator.
'high' with half the letters taken is 'hi'.
'opiate' anagrammed gives 'etopia'.
'hi' put into 'etopia' is 'ETHIOPIA'.

'of being' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for ethiopia that I've seen before include "Where Haile Selassie was once emperor" , "Country of N Africa, capital Addis Ababa" , "Largest country of the Horn of Africa" , "African nation" , "Former Abyssinia" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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