Forum #1

c.3400 B.C.

The opium poppy is cultivated in lower

Mesopotamia. The Sumerians refer to it as

Hul Gil, the 'joy plant.' The Sumerians

would soon pass along the plant and its

euphoric effects to the Assyrians. The art of

poppy-culling would continue from the

Assyrians to the Babylonians who in turn

would pass their knowledge onto the

Egyptians.

c.1300

B.C.

In the capital city of Thebes, Egyptians

begin cultivation of opium thebaicum,grown

in their famous poppy fields.The opium

trade flourishes during the reign of

Thutmose IV, Akhenaton and King

Tutankhamen. The trade route included the

Phoenicians and Minoans who move the

profitable item across the Mediterranean Sea

into Greece, Carthage, and Europe.

c.1100

B.C.

On the island of Cyprus, the "Peoples of the

Sea" craft surgical-quality culling knives to

harvest opium, which they would cultivate,

trade and smoke before the fall of Troy.

c. 460

B.C.

Hippocrates, "the father of medicine",

dismisses the magical attributes of opium but

acknowledges its usefulness as a narcotic

and styptic in treating internal diseases,

diseases of women and epidemics.

330

B.C.

Alexander the Great introduces opium to the

people of Persia and India.

A.D.

400

Opium thebaicum, from the Egytpian fields

at Thebes, is first introduced to China by

Arab traders.

1300's

Opium disappears for two hundred years

from European historical record. Opium had

become a taboo subject for those in circles of

learning during the Holy Inquisition. In the

eyes of the Inquisition, anything from the

East was linked to the Devil.

1500 The Portugese, while trading along the East

China Sea, initiate the smoking ofopium.

The effects were instantaneous as they

discovered but it was a practice the Chinese

considered barbaric and subversive.

1527 During the height of the Reformation, opium

is reintroduced into European medical

literature by Paracelsus as laudanum. These

black pills or "Stones of Immortality" were

made of opium thebaicum, citrus juice and

quintessence of gold and prescribed as

painkillers.

1600's Residents of Persia and India begin eating

and drinking opium mixtures for recreational

use.

Portugese merchants carrying cargoes of

Indian opium through Macao direct its trade

flow into China.

1606 Ships chartered by Elizabeth I are instructed

to purchase the finest Indian opium and

transport it back to England.

1680 English apothecary, Thomas Sydenham,

introduces Sydenham's Laudanum, a

compound of opium, sherry wine and herbs.

His pills along with others of the time

become popular remedies for numerous

ailments.

1700 The Dutch export shipments of Indian opium

to China and the islands of Southeast Asia;

the Dutch introduce the practice of smoking

opium in a tobacco pipe to the Chinese.

1729 Chinese emperor, Yung Cheng, issues an

edictprohibiting the smoking of opium and

its domestic sale, except under license for

use as medicine.

1750 The British East India Company assumes

control of Bengal and Bihar, opium-growing

districts of India. British shipping dominates

the opium trade out of Calcutta to China.

1753 Linnaeus, the father of botany, first classifies

the poppy, Papaver somniferum-- 'sleep-

inducing', in his book Genera Plantarum.

1767 The British East India Company's import of

opium to China reaches a staggering two

thousand chests of opium per year.

1793 The British East India Company establishes

a monopoly on the opium trade. All poppy

growers in India were forbidden to sell

opium to competitor trading companies.

1799 China's emperor, Kia King, bans opium

completely, making trade and poppy

cultivation illegal.

1800 The British Levant Company purchases

nearly half of all of the opium coming out of

Smyrna, Turkey strictly for importation to

Europe and the United States.

1803 Friedrich Sertuerner of Paderborn, Germany

discovers the active ingredient of opium by

dissolving it in acid then neutralizing it with

ammonia. The result: alkaloids--Principium

somniferum or morphine.

Physicians believe that opium had finally

been perfected and tamed. Morphine is

lauded as "God's own medicine" for its

reliablity, long-lasting effects and safety.

1805 A smuggler from Boston, Massachusetts,

Charles Cabot, attempts to purchase opium

from the British, then smuggle it into China

under the auspices of British smugglers.

1812 American John Cushing, under the employ

of his uncles' business, James and Thomas

H. Perkins Company of Boston, acquires his

wealth from smuggling Turkish opium to

Canton.

1816 John Jacob Astor of New York City joins the

opium smuggling trade. His American Fur

Company purchases ten tons of Turkish

opium then ships the contraband item to

Canton on the Macedonian. Astor would

later leave the China opium trade and sell

solely to England.

1819 Writer John Keats and other English literary

personalities experiment with opium

intended for strict recreational use--simply

for the high and taken at extended, non-

addictive intervals

1821 Thomas De Quincey publishes his

autobiographical account of opium

addiction, 'Confessions of an English

Opium-eater.'

1827 E. Merck & Company of Darmstadt,

Germany, begins commercial manufacturing

of morphine.

1830 The British dependence on opium for

medicinal and recreational use reaches an all

time high as 22,000 pounds of opium is

imported from Turkey and India.

Jardine-Matheson & Company of London

inherit India and its opium from the British

East India Company once the mandate to

rule and dictate the trade policies of British

India are no longer in effect.

1837 Elizabeth Barrett Browning falls under the

spell of morphine. This, however, does not

impede her ability to write "poetical

paragraphs."

March 18,

1839 Lin Tse-Hsu, imperial Chinese

commissioner in charge of suppressing the

opium traffic, orders all foreign traders to

surrender their opium. In response, the

British send expenditionary warships to the

coast of China, beginning The First Opium

War.

1840 New Englanders bring 24,000 pounds of

opium into the United States. This catches

the attention of U.S. Customs which

promptly puts a duty fee on the import.

1841 The Chinese are defeated by the British in

the First Opium War. Along with paying a

large indemnity, Hong Kong is ceded to the

British.

1843 Dr. Alexander Wood of Edinburgh discovers

a new technique of administering morphine,

injection with a syringe. He finds the effects

of morphine on his patients instantaneous

and three times more potent.

1852 The British arrive in lower Burma, importing

large quantities of opium from India and

selling it through a government-controlled

opium monopoly.

1856 The British and French renew their

hostilities against China in the Second

Opium War. In the aftermath of the struggle,

China is forced to pay another indemnity.

The importation of opium is legalized.

Opium production increases along the

highlands of Southeast Asia.

1874 English researcher, C.R. Wright first

synthesizes heroin, or diacetylmorphine, by

boiling morphine over a stove.

In San Francisco, smoking opium in the city

limits is banned and is confined to

neighboring Chinatowns and their opium

dens.

1878 Britain passes the Opium Act with hopes of

reducing opium consumption. Under the new

regulation, the selling of opium is restricted

to registered Chinese opium smokers and

Indian opium eaters while the Burmese are

strictly prohibited from smoking opium.

1886 The British acquire Burma's northeast

region, the Shan state. Production and

smuggling of opium along the lower region

of Burma thrives despite British efforts to

maintain a strict monopoly on the opium

trade.

1890 U.S. Congress, in its earliest law-

enforcement legislation on narcotics,

imposes a tax on opium and morphine.

Tabloids owned by William Randolph

Hearst publish stories of white women being

seduced by Chinese men and their opium to

invoke fear of the 'Yellow Peril', disguised

as an "anti-drug" campaign.

1895 Heinrich Dreser working for The Bayer

Company of Elberfeld, Germany, finds that

diluting morphine with acetyls produces a

drug without the common morphine side

effects.Bayer begins production of

diacetylmorphine and coins the name

"heroin." Heroin would not be introduced

commercially for another three years.

Early

1900's

The philanthropic Saint James Society in the

U.S. mounts a campaign to supply free

samples of heroin through the mail to

morphine addicts who are trying give up

their habits.

Efforts by the British and French to control

opium production in Southeast Asia are

successful. Nevertheless, this Southeast

region, referred to as the 'Golden Triangle',

eventually becomes a major player in the

profitable opium trade during the 1940's.

1902 In various medical journals, physicians

discuss the side effects of using heroin as a

morphine step-down cure. Several

physicians would argue that their patients

suffered from heroin withdrawal symptoms

equal to morphine addiction.

1903 Heroin addiction rises to alarming rates.

1905 U.S. Congress bans opium.

1906 China and England finally enact a treaty

restricting the Sino-Indian opium trade.

Several physicians experiment with

treatments for heroin addiction. Dr.

Alexander Lambert and Charles B. Towns

tout their popular cure as the most

"advanced, effective and compassionate

cure" for heroin addiction. The cure

consisted of a 7 day regimen, which included

a five day purge of heroin from the addict's

system with doses of belladonna delirium.

U.S. Congress passes the Pure Food and

Drug Act requiring contents labeling on

patent medicines by pharmaceutical

companies. As a result, the availabilty of

opiates and opiate consumers significantly

declines.

1909 The first federal drug prohibition passes in

the U.S. outlawing the imporation of opium.

It was passed in preparation for the Shanghai

Conference, at which the US presses for

legislation aimed at suppressing the sale of

opium to China.

February 1,

1909

The International Opium Commission

convenes in Shanghai. Heading the U.S.

delegation are Dr. Hamilton Wright and

Episcopal Bishop Henry Brent. Both would

try to convince the international delegation

of the immoral and evil effects of opium.

1910

After 150 years of failed attempts to rid the

country of opium, the Chinese are finally

successful in convincing the British to

dismantle the India-China opium trade.

Dec. 17,

1914

The passage of Harrison Narcotics Act

which aims to curb drug (especially cocaine

but also heroin) abuse and addiction. It

requires doctors, pharmacists and others who

prescribed narcotics to register and pay a tax.

1923 The U.S. Treasury Department's Narcotics

Division (the first federal drug agency) bans

all legal narcotics sales. With the prohibition

of legal venues to purchase heroin, addicts

are forced to buy from illegal street dealers.

1925 In the wake of the first federal ban on opium,

a thriving black market opens up in New

York's Chinatown.

1930's The majority of illegal heroin smuggled into

the U.S. comes from China and is refined in

Shanghai and Tietsin.

Early

1940's

During World War II, opium trade routes are

blocked and the flow of opium from India

and Persia is cut off. Fearful of losing their

opium monopoly, the French encourage

Hmong farmers to expand their opium

production.

1945-

1947

Burma gains its independence from Britain

at the end of World War II. Opium

cultivation and trade flourishes in the Shan

states.

1948-

1972

Corsican gangsters dominate the U.S. heroin

market through their connection with Mafia

drug distributors. After refining the raw

Turkish opium in Marseille laboratories, the

heroin is made easily available for purchase

by junkies on New York City streets.

1950's U.S. efforts to contain the spread of

Communism in Asia involves forging

alliances with tribes and warlords inhabiting

the areas of the Golden Triangle, (an

expanse covering Laos, Thailand and

Burma), thus providing accessibility and

protection along the southeast border of

China. In order to maintain their relationship

with the warlords while continuing to fund

the struggle against communism, the U.S.

and France supply the drug warlords and

their armies with ammunition, arms and air

transport for the production and sale of

opium. The result: an explosion in the

availability and illegal flow of heroin into

the United States and into the hands of drug

dealers and addicts.

1962 Burma outlaws opium.

1965-

1970

U.S. involvement in Vietnam is blamed for

the surge in illegal heroin being smuggled

into the States. To aid U.S. allies, the Central

Intelligence Agency (CIA) sets up a charter

airline, Air America, to transport raw opium

from Burma and Laos. As well, some of the

opium would be transported to Marseille by

Corsican gangsters to be refined into heroin

and shipped to the U.S via the French

connection. The number of heroin addicts in

the U.S. reaches an estimated 750,000.

October

1970

Legendary singer, Janis Joplin, is found dead

at Hollywood's Landmark Hotel, a victim of

an "accidental heroin overdose."

1972 Heroin exportation from Southeast Asia's

Golden Triangle, controlled by Shan

warlord, Khun Sa,becomes a major source

for raw opium in the profitable drug trade.

July 1,

1973

President Nixon creates the DEA (Drug

Enforcement Administration) under the

Justice Dept. to consolidate virtually all

federal powers of drug enforcement in a

single agency.

Mid-

1970's

Saigon falls. The heroin epidemic subsides.

The search for a new source of raw opium

yields Mexico's Sierra Madre. "Mexican

Mud" would temporarily replace "China

White" heroin until 1978.

1978 The U.S. and Mexican governments find a

means to eliminate the source of raw opium-

-by spraying poppy fields with Agent

Orange. The eradication plan is termed a

success as the amount of "Mexican Mud" in

the U.S. drug market declines. In response to

the decrease in availability of "Mexican

Mud", another source of heroin is found in

the Golden Crescent area--Iran, Afghanistan

and Pakistan, creating a dramatic upsurge in

the production and trade of illegal heroin.

1982 Comedian John Belushi of Animal House

fame, dies of a heroin-cocaine--"speedball"

overdose.

Sept. 13, 1984 U.S. State Department officials conclude,

after more than a decade of crop substitution

programs for Third World growers of

marijuana, coca or opium poppies, that the

tactic cannot work without eradication of the

plants and criminal enforcement. Poor

results are reported from

eradicationprograms in Burma, Pakistan,

Mexico and Peru.

1988 Opium production in Burma increases under

the rule of the State Law and Order

Restoration Council (SLORC), the Burmese

junta regime.

The single largest heroin seizure is made in

Bangkok. The U.S. suspects that the 2,400-

pound shipment of heroin, en route to New

York City, originated from the Golden

Triangle region, controlled by drug warlord,

Khun Sa.

1990 A U.S. Court indicts Khun Sa, leader of the

Shan United Army and reputed drug

warlord, on heroin trafficking charges. The

U.S. Attorney General's office charges Khun

Sa with importing 3,500 pounds of heroin

into New York City over the course of

eighteen months, as well as holding him

responsible for the source of the heroin

seized in Bangkok.

1992 Colombia's drug lords are said to be

introducing a high-grade form of heroin into

the United States.

1993

The Thai army with support from the U.S.

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) launches

its operation to destroy thousands of acres of

opium poppies from the fields of the Golden

Triangle region.

October 31, 1993 Heroin takes another well-known victim.

Twenty-three-year-old actor River Phoenix

dies of a heroin-cocaine overdose, the same

"speedball" combination that killed

comedian John Belushi.

January 1994 Efforts to eradicate opium at its source

remains unsuccessful. The Clinton

Administration orders a shift in policy away

from the anti- drug campaigns of previous

administrations. Instead the focus includes

"institution building" with the hope that by

"strengthening democratic governments

abroad, [it] will foster law-abiding behavior

and promote legitimate economic

opportunity."

April 1994 Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the Seattle-based

alternative rock band, Nirvana, dies of

heroin-related suicide.

1995 The Golden Triangle region of Southeast

Asia is now the leader in opium production,

yielding 2,500 tons annually. According to

U.S. drug experts, there are new drug

trafficking routes from Burma through Laos,

to southern China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

January 1996 Khun Sa, one of Shan state's most powerful

drug warlords, "surrenders" to SLORC. The

U.S. is suspicious and fears that this

agreement between the ruling junta regime

and Khun Sa includes a deal allowing "the

opium king" to retain control of his opium

trade but in exchange end his 30-year-old

revolutionary war against the government.

November 1996 International drug trafficking organizations,

including China, Nigeria, Colombia and

Mexico are said to be "aggressively

marketing heroin in the United States and

Europe."

References Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. London:

Simon & Schuster, Ltd., 1996.

Latimer, Dean, and Jeff Goldberg with an

Introduction by William Burroughs. Flowers

in the Blood: The Story of Opium. New

York: Franklin Watts, 1981

McCoy, Alfred W. The Politics of Heroin:

CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade.

New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991.

Musto, David F. The American Disease:

Origins of Narcotic Control. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1987.