Anti-Drug Policies in 1920's China

Someone brought to my attention and suggested that I discuss the anti-drug policies in 1920s China. I can first tell you that I had done no research involving anti-drugs when it came to my story for a few reasons. The first reason is that, regardless of what the laws are or were, I wrote a fiction which went against whatever was true in this nature. Yes, I did incorporate a lot of factual aspects in the book, but I felt that when it came to the opium itself, the regulations and rules needed to be as wide open as possible to give it real effect and show that the city was weak and accepting when it came to a possible outbreak. So were there real anti-drug laws in China in 1920? Yes, they have had longstanding ones in place since the 1920s. In the late 20s and early 30s, opium was made illegal in communist controlled regions. During the 40s and later on, the regulations and rules became more thorough and demanding due to people attempting to break the law and try to obtain illegal goods. China did in fact have a drug problem in the 1920's just like they do in my novel; however, my novel makes it more of a serious matter.

China’s drug problems while small in the 20's became more known and prominent in the later half of the century and early 30's so much that it is likely the reason for the rules and regulations made in place after the fact, The 40's from what I could gather was when China became more strict about the rules and regulations they already had in place. The main reason this was done was because of opium, and later on, more drugs associated with opium. Political and military conflicts also tied into the stricter rules in the 30's and 40's. It appears that the more China upped its rules, the more people felt the need to break them and obtain drugs or that which was deemed illegal to have. This is likely a pattern no matter what country, but also, just like any country, China did what they felt they needed to do to stop the rise and distribution of opium/drugs in their country. Given that China had two opium wars long before the 1900s, it’s no wonder and worth mentioning that they already had several programs, documents and acts in place against the use, distribution and selling of opium and narcotics.

Throughout the years people always found a way to obtain the drugs just as today, being the same. Many doctors practiced in the belief that opium was a good pain reliever, and many published books stating the belief and practice in this matter. It was because of this belief that the country banned and made acts, seeing as opium was given out by so many doctors to relieve pain and to anyone who could acquire it was no wonder the country tried so hard to prevent it from getting any worse. There was a prohibition and several treaties with countries to prevent future opium outbreaks because it was so severe. So were their anti-drug policies in place? Of course, and they’ve been in place for hundreds of years, and it wasn’t until the late 1920s that things started to get worse again, and the Chinese government decided to look into the laws already in place and enhance them to prevent a war or outbreak. My book could be considered a fictional aspect of a small outbreak that took place, and because it happened, it led to the reason the Chinese government upped its game and enforced stricter rules at the end of the decade and beginning of the new one.

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