Anti-opium Pressures

Abstract

As public opinion in the US, UK, India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma and China started to rally against the colonial opium trade, the adoption of international control on the supply of drugs from India, Hong Kong and elsewhere became imperative. Many domestic and cross-regional pressures contributed to the initial direction of international control of South Asian opium in the first decade of the twentieth century. Driven by its socio-economic objectives, the US government initiated an international move to regulate the opium trade in South Asia. The US attempt connected the Indian opium trade more than ever with global politics. Besides the US push, a political demand for amending the colonial drug policies had persisted in South Asia from the late nineteenth century. Finally, the anti-opium battle launched by Christian missionaries, especially in England, compelled the British government to set up a Royal Commission on Opium in 1893. The British government, the most powerful Imperial government on earth at that time, eventually joined in the US-sponsored initiative at the expense of its Indian opium revenue, and risked the efficacy of the Royal Commission.KeywordsOpium TradeOpium PolicyOpium ShopRoyal CommissionLegislative CouncilThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.