Will History Repeat Itself?

As we look over the halls of history we find that in the early days, before there were laws on various drugs, governments had their hand in the cookie jar of the drug trade.

In the last article we talked about a "War" that took place between the British and Chinese.

But lets now look at what lead up to that war.

How did it come about and what role did governments play in its eventual outcome?

What Role Has Government Played in the Drug Trade?

We can speculate and I am sure we all have our conspiracy theories about this, but lets just take a look at some known facts in our history books.

In looking for other possible commodities, the British soon discovered opium, and production of opium was subsidized in British India.

Between 1821 and 1837 imports of the drug to China increased five-fold, as a result of the British reversing its previous decision to respect the Qing governments ban on opium which dated back to 1729.

British importation of opium in large amounts began in 1781.

The drug was produced in India under a British government monopoly (Bengal) and in the Princely states (Malwa) and was sold on the condition that it be shipped by British traders to China.

Alarmed by the epidemic of addiction (an estimated 2 million Chinese were habitual users), the Qing government ...

Alarmed by the epidemic of addiction (an estimated 2 million Chinese were habitual users), the Qing government attempted to end the opium trade.

The effort was initially claimed to be successful, with the official in charge of the effort Lin Zexu, who wrote a letter to the Queen of Great Britain in an unsuccessful attempt to stop this illegal trade, which had poisoned thousands of Chinese civilians.

In one isolated incident, in 1818, word got out of a US ship laden with Opium and treasure which was invaded by Chinese pirates.

The crew of the US vessel had all been killed, but for the escaping first mate, who later identified the pirates to the authorities.

Lin Zexu eventually forced the British Chief Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliott to hand over all remaining stocks of opium (20,000 chests, each holding about 120 pounds for destruction in May 1839.)

However, in July 1839 rioting British sailors destroyed a temple near Kowloon and murdered a Chinese man Jin how, who tried to stop them.

Because China did not have a jury trial system or evidence based process (the magistrate was the prosecutor, judge, jury and would-be executioner), the British government and community in China wanted "extraterritoriality", which meant that British subjects would only be tried by British judges.

When the Qing authorities demanded the guilty men be handed over for trial, the British refused.

Six sailors were tried by the British authorities in Guangzhou (Canton), but as the court had no legal authority they were immediately released.

Charles Elliott had been told by the British government that without authority from the Qing government he had no legal right to try anyone.

The Qing authorities also insisted that British merchants not be allowed to trade unless they signed a bond, under penalty of death, promising not to smuggle opium, agreeing to follow Chinese laws, and acknowledging Qing legal jurisdiction.

Refusing to hand over any suspects or agree to the bonds, Charles Elliot ordered the British community to withdraw from Guangzhou and prohibited trade with the Chinese.

Some merchants who didn't deal in opium were willing to sign the bond, thereby weakening the British trading position.

Its All About Money!

In the end this whole area of drugs is about money.

Just as opium addicted the Chinese population, so it is with our children of today.

Our potential leaders of tomorrow are inundated with drugs in many ways.

The one thing we can all do that will surely change the course of history is to ensure our children get the correct information about drugs at an early enough age so they can make the right decisions not to use them.

That is why Friends of Narconon has created the Narconon Drug Education video program.

If we don't do something about this now, we can only predict that history will repeat itself!

Call Donna Miller and sponsor some schools today! 1-800-882-6862

Sincerely,

Robert Hernandez
President, Friends of Narconon, Intl.

P.S. To Sponsor a school. Click here (or copy and paste into your browser):
<http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/drug_education/school_sponsorship_program/

Make a donation right now. Click here (or copy and paste into your browser):
<http://friendsofnarconon.org/

PSS: I still need just a FEW more answers to the quiz "What is the cause of Boredom?".

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