Addiction From Historical Perspective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Addiction From Historical berth - Essay ExampleThe story of drug addiction very begins with the opium wars in China and the fight amidst the Chinese and the English. The English actually brought opium to China as a way to trade something to them that China did non have and to have an alternative to using silver. In 1839, opium had been outlawed by the government of China to altogether be designd for medicine. However, the British were able to purchase cheap opium and bring it into the country through the British East India Company (Allingham, 2006). Suddenly opium was available anywhere and although it started out as something that only the rich could afford, it chop-chop spread to about 90% of males under the age of 40 in the coastal regions of China. This had a forecast impact on business, civil service and the standard of living they all were falling apart (Allingham, 2006). Lin Ze-xu (1785-1850), the accordingly appointed anti-opium commissioner estimated that about fou r million the great unwashed were addicted to opium however, a British physician work in the area stated that the addiction was more likely to be 12 million (Allingham, 2006). By 1837, opium was a larger import than any other traded commodity. Wars broke out over the sale and use of opium because of the trade laws that were enacted upon the British. By 1773, opium was traded globally but the British Governor-General of Bengal created a monopoly on the sale of opium and continued to shit Indian opium to China regardless of the rules that China had established for trade. By 1797, opium was eliminated in Bengal, but by the deeply 19th century, Bengals opium was being grown, processed and exported in Bengal (McCoy, n.d.). Alcohol Addiction Begins to be Seen More often Although alcoholism goes back to biblical days, it has always depended on social trends. Usually, alcohol was a part of every ceremony and every culture. Alcohol was used during the colonial period and was used both as a beverage and as a medicine. The early colonists allowed drunkenness as long as it did not intercept with an individuals ability to work and make a living (Anonymous, 2009). By the mid to novel 19th Century, people controlped trying to curb the individuals behavior to trying to control the consumption of alcohol. As social problems like crime and poverty began to take its toll on the family at large, the social reform movement began to attempt to stop the sale of alcohol. Most people depart remember that the Temperance Movement was set to eliminate all of alcohol but of course this did not work because people continued to make their own alcohol. By 1930s, American alcohol science was recreated and in this decade Alcoholics Anonymous had also begun (History, 2009). The Use of Patent Medicine The use of patent medicines during the eighteenth and early 19th Century was a precursor to drug regulations. These first medicines had substances like cocaine or heroin in them and the c onsumers who bought them did not know that these drugs could harm them. Patent medicines were sold as elixirs and tonics that could cure umteen illnesses whether the consumer was an adult, a child or an infant (Drug Addiction, 2010). many a(prenominal) of these medicines were said to cure tuberculosis and arthritis and many people began to take these remedies which lead to addiction. At that time addiction was unknown and there were no restrictions on their use. Many people ended up losing their lives or having them destroyed because of their use of these remedies. Many early doctors saw that these remedies were actually not helping the ailment and that they were creating addictions instead. However, the patent medicine makers protested any laws that were put in place to stop them from selling the medicines. Eventually, these drugs were stopped once journalists began to talk about