Another installment from the H-World thread; by the way, apparently  
Johnson said that he knew of no explanation why the Chinese developed  
a special enthusiasm for opium matched by no other people.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Eric L. Martin" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: February 27, 2006 3:43:32 PM EST
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: War(s) on Drugs
> Reply-To: H-NET List for World History <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Erik C. Maiershofer
> Hope International University
> [log in to unmask]
>
> In the reading that I have done on the subject (largely in  
> preparation for teaching World History), I do not recall coming  
> across the claim that this was the first war on drugs.  I believe  
> it does have some resemblance to the recent "war on drugs" (which  
> may or may not have been supplanted by the "war on terror"?) in  
> that there was a concerted government program to attempt to halt  
> importation of a drug.  In addition, from what I have read about  
> Lin Zexu, he appears to fit the title "drug tsar" in his  
> responsibilities and actions.
>
> There are, however, a number of other examples of the attempts of  
> governments to regulate substances that could be defined as drugs:  
> the Ottomans fought coffee and tobacco at different times and  
> various European commentators pushed for legislating coffee and  
> tobacco in the eighteenth century (though in both cases, these  
> efforts were more concerned with the atmosphere of the cafe' in  
> terms of political dissent than the drugs themselves).  There are  
> also numerous Arab accounts of groups attemping to ban hashish, one  
> example being the declarations of the Wahhabbis after their taking  
> of Mecca in 1805.  I would not be surprised to find even earlier  
> efforts at controlling substances in different cultures and  
> governments.
>
> As for Paul Johnson, my own thoughts have been that Opium addiction  
> was both an issue of supply and demand.  The British encouraged  
> supply, as it seemed to be the one good that they could develop a  
> market for in China, and demand certainly may have been encouraged  
> by economic decline in China, rapid population growth and limited  
> farming resources.  These are my own speculations, and I would  
> welcome any correction of these (particularly as I have noted some  
> that debate China's economic decline at this point in history).