Abstract

This article examines a drugs trade in Asia that has been largely forgotten by historians and policy-makers, that in cocaine. It will briefly trace some of the contours of this commerce and the efforts to control it. It will also assess how successful these efforts were. The article is designed to contribute fresh perspectives on recent controversies in the historiography of drugs in Asia to argue that the agendas and agency of consumers are central to understanding why markets have formed there for psychoactive substances in the modern period.

Highlights

  • After a surveillance operation that had started in January of that year, Bombay Excise Inspector P

  • The premises in Ghati Gully seemed to be at the centre of an illegal cocaine trade, with the drug stored at one property and sold from another to customers who consumed on the spot after handing over their payment

  • As debates raged in Britain about the First Opium War, a trope emerged in which critics of the country’s actions in China conjured up images of Asian opium consumers as hapless dupes of wicked British opium suppliers

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Summary

Introduction

After a surveillance operation that had started in January of that year, Bombay Excise Inspector P.

Results
Conclusion

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