History of substance use and control in British Guiana

Kellie Moss,Deborah Toner

doi:10.29311/lwps.202143757

Abstract

Whilst the impact of drugs on the culture of Caribbean societies and Indigenous populations is well documented, their role in maintaining influence over an ethnically diverse population and regulating labour productivity are frequently overlooked. In this paper we examine the use of drugs as a means of compelling and retaining labour in British Guiana during the nineteenth century. We also assess changes over time in how the colonial state managed concerns that the use of intoxicants threatened its control over the labouring population through licensing laws, carceral institutions and the criminalisation of certain drugs.

Highlights

The control of psychoactive substances in British Guiana was established in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through varied local and international drug control initiatives related to spirits, opium, cannabis, and pharmaceutical products
In this paper we examine the use of drugs as a means of compelling and retaining labour in British Guiana during the nineteenth century
With recurrent concerns regarding the use of opium and cannabis in British Guiana, namely that excessive use left many ‘unfit for work’, rum continued to be encouraged by plantation owners as an alternative substance (PP 1871 [C. 393, C. 393-I, C. 393-II])

Summary

Introduction

Introduction The control of psychoactive substances in British Guiana was established in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through varied local and international drug control initiatives related to spirits, opium, cannabis, and pharmaceutical products. Legislation to criminalise certain uses of psychoactive substances was first introduced in British Guiana in 1838, following the termination of the apprenticeship system, through which the formerly enslaved were tied to their previous owners for a four-year period (18341838).4 In an attempt to retain power over them and avoid a decline in planation labour, the colonial government introduced numerous measures to restrict their mobility, including through an 1839 ordinance for the ‘relief of the destitute poor’ (TNA CO113/1, 1839).

Results

Conclusion