Sort of opiate inspiring welcome state (8)
I believe the answer is:
ethiopia
'state' is the definition.
(I know that Ethiopia is a African country)
'sort of opiate inspiring welcome' is the wordplay.
'sort of' is an anagram indicator.
'inspiring' indicates putting letters inside.
'welcome' becomes 'hi' (both are greetings).
'opiate' is an anagram of 'etopia'.
'etopia' placed around 'hi' is 'ETHIOPIA'.
(Other definitions for ethiopia that I've seen before include "Country of N Africa, capital Addis Ababa" , "Strife-torn NE African country, capital Addis Ababa" , "Where Haile Selassie was once emperor" , "African nation" , "Former Abyssinia" .)