Opium: Nature's Inspiration

I love the introduction to Kubla Khan about the possibility of Coleridge being in a drug induced state. It's almost as if it is being added as a disclaimer to poem. I was having flashes of late-night infomercials where they inform you that the views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the broadcasting station. It's almost as if to say that if you liked the poem, thanks be to the opium. If you didn't, just blame it on the drugs and not necessarily the writer.
Many artists claim that some form of sedative helps them to connect with their inner self and helps them produce their art. I doubt Coleridge ever made this claim, but it is a possibility that due to the effects of the drug he was able to think/imagine more clearly in order to create.
This has some reference to the commonality of "writer's block" in the sense that sometimes a writer can't let go of or overcome whatever is keeping them from creating. A writer's creativity may be blocked by the inability to connect their conscious state with their subconscious state.
Not to change the subject too drastically, but the artist Dali said something to the effect that everything he created was a recreation a of subconscious idea/dream that he brought into consciousness.
I think it is within the realm of possibility that Coleridge, in a perhaps inebriated state, was able to connect more fully with his creative well and draw from it something that his subconscious had created while he dosed. Upon awaking, he attempted to recreate his thoughts but it was soon taken from him as he was distracted by other things.