Opiums Orphans - The 200-Year History of the War on Drugs

"Opium's Orphans is the first full history of drug prohibition and the 'war on drugs.' A no-holds-barred but balanced account, it shows that drug suppression was born of historical accident, not rational design. The war on drugs did not originate in Europe or the United States, and even less with President Nixon, but in China. Two Opium Wars followed by Western attempts to atone for them gave birth to an anti-narcotics order that has come to span the globe. But has the war on drugs succeeded? As opioid deaths and cartel violence run rampant, contestation becomes more vocal, and marijuana is slated for legalization, [this book] proposes that it is time to go back to the drawing board"--

About the author

P. E. Caquet is an Associate at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. His books include The Orient, the Liberal Movement, and the Eastern Crisis of 1839–41 (2016) and The Bell of Treason: The 1938 Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia (2018).

Summary

The first full account of governments’ attempts to suppress drugs and drug-dealing.

Product details

• Authors: P. E. Caquet, P. E. Caquet
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.06.2022
• EAN: 9781789145588
• ISBN: 978-1-78914-558-8
• No. of pages: 440
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology, Social & cultural history, Social and cultural history, Drugs trade / drug trafficking, opiates; opium; Western imperialism; China; war on drugs