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Over the year’s global relations have had many influences over the production and distribution of legal and illegal opiates. In the film ‘Production and Distribution’ (The Open University, 2009) we see how the rise of the British Empire in the nineteenth century was a catalyst for the rise of the trafficking and production of opiates across Asia and the middle east. The film also raises many moral and questions on how the legal system has come to work on the issue of the production and distribution of opiates.
As far back as the nineteenth century global relations played a key role in the legal and illegal distribution of opiates. With the emergence and dominance of the British Empire in this period free trade between countries became more common and China became a key supplier of the Britain’s new obsession, tea. Britain began to see financial disadvantages in its trading with China as in return for supplying Britain with tea China wanted Silver which was ‘…depleting the British Exchequer’ (The Open University, 2009). To curb the use of Silver, Britain began to use opium from its plantations and legal protection of opiates in India in trade for the tea. At this point this is an example of legal distribution of opium from Britain to China, opium was already established after being introduced to China by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century and was used by a lot the population. The Emperor in China began to see a wave of addiction through his subjects and a trade deficit so the Emperor began prohibition on the use of opium regarding it ‘…as something that he regarded as a foreign poison’ (The Open University, 2009). At this point global relations changed between the two countries which resulted in a war resulting in China be...
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... opiates are distributed in similar ways even if it is done legally. It is the opinion of many that the production and distribution of medical opiates have been a breakthrough in medicine over the years and has led many to lead more fulfilled lives but on the other side of the argument it has led to dependency and addiction. Morally there are arguments that illegal opiate trafficking is justified as in many countries like Tajikistan where there are little welfare programs, the trafficking of substances allow many to stay on the bread line but this in the eyes of the law is wrong but is it morally fine for pharmaceutical companies to market and sell “legal” drugs in sorts, the same way? As said at the end of the film, ‘…it depends on who is distributing the drugs and how they are distributing that affects the way the law deals with them’ (The Open University, 2009).
The Chinese would run the opium trade; cocaine would come from South America. The impact of this conspiracy, she asserted, could as of now been seen in the city of Edmonton, where Murphy was a police court officer (Mark Bourrie, 2015). In her book through various illustrations she mentioned about the “The Ring Victims.” Through her book “The Black Candle” she likewise specified that how the white race especially white girls and women were trapped by Chinamen in order to secure their services administration as sellers of opiates (Kulba, 85). She further discussed that it is not true that girls go to Chinamen because of the drug habit they learnt and request to satisfy their drug needs (Kulba, 85). Yet, “they are trapped and hunted like a game stalked to windwand and trapped by the Chinamen in order that she may be bent to his criminal purpose such as Libidinous desire” (233). Emily Murphy, in her book “the Black Candle” opposite to page 30 there is a photo of a white woman with an opium pipe; the caption stated as “An open-eyed insensate in the dread Valley of the Shadow of the Drug,” (Murphy, 1922). Below, another picture demonstrates the natural progression of The Ring’s victims: a completely dressed white lady leans back with shirtless black man (Kalunta-Crumpton, 333). The subtitle pursues: "When she procures the propensity, she doesn 't comprehend what lies before her; later she couldn 't care less." Opposite page 49, there’s a picture of a dark-skinned man and white woman, postured together, with opium paraphernalia in front of them. The caption says: “Once a woman has started on the trail of the poppy, the sledding is very easy and downgrade all the way.” The Ring was said to have its claws into Saskatoon, Calgary, Montreal and other Canadian cities where young women —
At the end of the eighteenth century, China’s goods were much desired by Britain. However, the Chinese saw Europeans as savages and did not want to trade with them. During trade, there was an imbalance in China’s favor, because the Europeans were forced to buy Chinese goods using silver. The Western Imperialists began to grow opium poppies from in India, and then smuggle them into China. China soon became addicted to the drug and spent most of it’s money on the purchase of it from the Europeans and Americans. This shifted the balance of power to be in Europe’s favor.
The documentary states that over 27,000 deaths a year are due to overdose from heroin and other opioids. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 prescription pain relievers account for 20,101 overdose deaths, and 12,990 overdose deaths are related to heroin (Rudd et al., 2010-2015). The documentary’s investigation gives the history of how the heroin epidemic started, with a great focus on the hospice movement. We are presented with the idea that once someone is addicted to painkillers, the difficulty in obtaining the drug over a long period of time becomes too expensive and too difficult. This often leads people to use heroin. This idea is true as a 2014 survey found that 94% of respondents who were being treated for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “more expensive and harder to obtain (Cicero et al., 2014).” Four in five heroin users actually started out using prescription painkillers (Johns, 2013). This correlation between heroin and prescription painkiller use supports the idea presented in the documentary that “prescription opiates are heroin prep school.”
Perhaps one of the most pressing concerns is health and the assumption that to a certain degree criminalization is justified by preserving health. Illicit drugs are, in reality, not as hazardous to public health as accustomed views present- particularly in relation to certain recreational activities that are legal. Of the 25,000 illegal drug use-induced fatalities the National Institute on Drug Abuse has brought to light, the majority is more correctly due to drug prohibition than consumption. Also, some 14,300 of the casualties are a result of diseases like AIDS, transferred (generally) because of contaminated drug injection needles. Needle exchange programs for sterile needles are encouraged by the World Health Organization, amongst many other international organizations, as it is considered as possibly the greatest innovation for the health improvement of users. However, the federal government disallows the appropriation of its funds to these programs because the possession and sale of syringes still remain largely illegal. Furthermore, - as I explain later on- between the sellers and producers, there is no real confidence in the contents and hence, dangerousness of a given street drug. Considering the already growing level of consumption, imagine the gains of, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supervising illicit drugs, parallel to their work on food and
In the early 1950’s in Southeast Asia, the CIA organized the Nationalist Chinese army to start a war against Communist China. This Chinese army became the opium distributors of the “Golden Triangle” (parts of Burma, Thailand and Laos). The “Golden Triangle” has the most abundance of opium and heroin in the world. In order to smuggle drugs, the CIA’s main airline, Air America, flew drugs all over Southeast Asia. (Robbins 154)
Later, the Qing refused to accept European goods and demanded bar silver as payment. As a result, The Western powers began experiencing an outflow of silver to China. The countries, especially Britain, needed to find a way to reverse the flow of silver so the trade was even. So the British resorted to opium, a drug from the sap of the opium poppy. Originally used as medicine in western countries, opium was sold to China as a recreational dr...
Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and abuse is founded greater in the prescription opiate based painkillers.
In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act, that was years in the making was finally passed under President Roosevelt. This law reflected a sea change in medicine-- an unprecedented wave of regulations. No longer could drug companies have a secret formula and hide potentially toxic substances such as heroin under their patent. The law required drug companies to specify the ingredients of medications on the label. It also regulated the purity and dosage of substances. Not by mere coincidence was the law passed only about five years after Bayer, a German based drug company began selling the morphine derivative, heroin. Thought to be a safe, non-habit forming alternative to morphine, heroin quickly became the “cure-all drug” that was used to treat anything from coughs to restlessness. Yet, just as quickly as it became a household staple, many began to question the innocence of the substance. While the 1906 law had inherent weaknesses, it signaled the beginning of the end for “cure-all” drugs, such as opiate-filled “soothing syrups” that were used for infants. By tracing and evaluating various reports by doctors and investigative journalists on the medical use of heroin, it is clear that the desire for this legislative measure developed from an offshoot in the medical community-- a transformation that took doctors out from behind the curtain, and brought the public into a new era of awareness.
Hanes, William Travis, and Frank Sanello. Opium Wars: the Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. Naperville, IL: Source, 2002. Print.
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
One-hundred years ago some drugs was legal to possess and even children could buy drugs like morphine, opium, marijuana, and cocaine. These drugs if got caught with them today could result in a life sentence it today’s society. 1914 was a change for these drugs it was like overnight these drugs become illegal. The reason for this change in 1914 wa...
The United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of one it’s southern neighbor, Latin America. The war on drugs has been no exception. An investigation of US relations with Latin America in the period from 1820 to 1960, reveals the war on drugs to be a convenient extension of an almost 200 year-old policy. This investigation focuses on the commercial and political objectives of the US in fighting a war on drugs in Latin America. These objectives explain why the failing drug policy persisted despite its overwhelming failure to decrease drug production or trafficking. These objectives also explain why the US has recently exchanged a war on drugs for the war on terrorism.
By the year 2000 opioid medicine containing oxycodone etc., are being abused and misused and more than doubled in 10 years’ time.