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Opium In East Asia

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dominated the world’s opium production since the 1950s.
The area of The Golden Triangle extends over 36,700 square miles and overlaps the mountains and regions of three Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. This region was the key producer of heroin until the early 21st century, when Afghanistan became the world’s largest producer. Opium was not used as a recreational drug on wide scale in Southeast
Asia until the infamous Opium Wars of the 19th century. The Opium Wars led to an increased demand for and production of opium in the Southeast Asian region, setting the stage for the magnification of the Golden Triangle. According to recent UN reports, opium production in this region has rapidly been increasing due to high drug …show more content…

The two countries together produced more than 893 metric tons of opium which is a 26 percent leap from the past 7 years. This drive is said to be fueled by the growing demand in the local and regional markets. In Myanmar, a 15-year plan was launched in 2000 which targeted illicit opium poppy production. It was supposed to culminate by 2014, but however it has been extended by five years, and will now end in 2019.
The Golden Crescent, located at the intersection of Western, Central and Southern Asia. This stretch comprises of three nations- Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, whose mountainous perimeter defines the crescent. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the nations which produce the opium, with Iran bringing consumers and trans- shipment route for the smuggled opiates. Within 10 years, Afghanistan became the largest opium producer in the world. When the Taliban took control in Afghanistan in the early 1990s after a significant amount of international pressure, they put a ban on opium output which led to …show more content…

Due to strict and vigorous law enforcements in the region, in the 1990s Columbian drug cartels were weakened and the Mexican cartels progressively seized control of most of the trafficking chains. Because of this change in production, increasing amounts of cocaine began to be shipped towards Northern America. United States became a prime destination for drug traffickers but nearly 30 percent of the worlds cocaine production traveled towards Europe, via West-Africa. The major drug trafficking cartels are either Mexican or Colombian, and generate a total of 42 billion dollars in the drug proceeds per annum. This increased level of cocaine production in the Latin America and the Caribbean has lead this region to have the world’s highest crime rates, with the murder aspects reaching as high as 32.67 per 100,000 of population in

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Struggling to maintain social order and strength, the Qing Dynasty placed restrictions on opium trade; however, this backfired, provoking retaliation from British traders and leading to a war that would create the Unequal Treaties. The detrimental socio economic effects opium had on China were beginning to surface during the late 1830’s, causing an influx of smokers and a decline in bullion. Although China’s economy suffered, this was the most viable foreign trade option for the British. There was low demand for the cotton the British offered to China, but the increased profits from opium would do more than compensate. Thus, British merchants took various measures to circumvent China’s policies to stop the illicit trade and managed to find

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Britain’s forced introduction of opium in 1825 in China had devastating effects on its population and economy. The people of China express their just displeasure with the British people and its monarchy in documents 1, 2, and 9. In Document 1, a Chinese emperor is addressing the King George of England in 1793 in a letter.

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In this in-depth article, Joshua Fogel discusses the details and importance of opium in China. Published in 2006, “Opium and China Revisited: How Sophisticated Was Qing Thinking in Matters of Drug Control?” takes us back to the nineteenth century and China's relationship with the outside world during the Mao years. Fogel begins by highlighting the significance of the Chinese government and nationalism in China during the 19th and 20th centuries. This then leads to talk of the opium in China and other area of Eurasia including Britain and Japan. Finally, Fogel succeeds in analyzing the studies done by other scholars, but fails to bring any new evidence or arguments in his work.

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Asia between 1750-1900 experienced outrageous amounts of imperialism. China was put under spheres of influence, meaning that they had areas of their nation which were controlled by outside nations for the imperializing nation's benefit. Britain traded English wool and Indian cotton for Chinese tea and textiles; however, as Chinese demand slackened, Britain sought other means of attracting trade with China. By the 1830s, Britain realized it could make up the trade deficit with China by selling Indian opium into the Chinese market, making opium Britain's most profitable and important crop in world markets. Eventually, opium poured into China and soon Chinese merchants already addicted themselves and buying for an addicted population paid British

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The Chinese had already known about the existence of opium, but did not start smoking it until the habit of snaking tobacco in the Americas spread to China creating addictions that fueled the opium trade and infiltrated imperial troops (www.britannica.com). The current Chinese ruler at the time did try to restrained and limit the trade of the drug, but since the balance of trade for Europe, especially England, had shifted dramatically in their favor (since they became a great fan of silk, porcelain, and tea from China) they were not about to lose their valuable opium trade business (www.britannica.com ). England could not help, but engage in two opium wars with China (the former coming out as victor in both wars), the first led to a pause in prohibiting the drug and the second extinguished the idea of possibly banning it altogether because of that it took many years to pass before India and China came to an agreement to try to stop the sell of opium and even more for people's addictions to disappear (www.britannica.com ). Unfortunately, for China this caused a decline in the economy since the balance shifted from China exporting more than importing to the other way around, it also affected many of the Chinese inhabitants since many of them grew addicted to opium and like any other drug, it took its toll on the person and China's population. Europe, on the other

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In 1839, the Chinese government tried to ban opium from a port city called Canton. Columbia University 's article, China and the West, says that, “the Chinese are defeated by superior British arms and which results in the imposition of the first of many “Unequal Treaties.” These treaties open other cities, “Treaty Ports” — first along the coast and then throughout China — to trade, foreign legal jurisdiction on Chinese territory in these ports, foreign control

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People were so addicted to Opium which they only had to pay back with Gold and Silver that China had produced for their economy. China was forced to concede its territorial and sovereignty rights. After the Opium War, the West turned China’s trade policy on its head, abolished China’s legal framework, and made other changes of broad scope.

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The Opium Wars came from China 's attempts to suppress the trade and consumption f Opium. The first war took place from 1839 to 1842 and the second war was from 1856 to 1860. The Opium wars marked a new beginning in terms of China’s relationship with the west. Regular trade had been going on with the British since the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1600’s. As European economic power rose, Chines goods such as silk, porcelain and tea became highly sought after.

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One of the governor in China decided to destroy 2.6 millions pound of opium. The European are trying to make more money and power. I totally understand they’re trying to find a way to survived and feed their people but the problem

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In the 19th century, western powers such as Britain were increasing their influence across the world and were engaging in free trade to improve their economic position. One of Britain’s biggest trading partner was China and there was a huge demand for Chinese products such as Chinese tea, porcelain and silk by the British. However, the Chinese had no interest in buying the products offered by the British and this led to Britain facing a huge trade deficit. In response to this, British traders began to illegally ship opium from India to China which led to a widespread addiction to opium in China that caused many economic and social problems in China. In order to control this addiction, the Chinese government led by Lin Zexu confiscated and destroyed over 20,000 chests of opium from British merchants.

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