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).