Counterproductive counternarcotic strategies? A study of the effects of opium eradication in the presence of imperfect capital markets and sharecropping arrangements

In this paper, we model the economic incentives surrounding opium crop production at farm level in Afghanistan. Specifically, we examine the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The theoretical analysis suggests that when perfect credit markets are available, an increased risk of having the opium poppy eradicated will lead to less land being allocated to opium poppy. Thus, with perfect credit markets, the eradication policy is likely to have the intended effect of lowering opium crop production. However, when opium is sold on futures markets as a means of obtaining credit, the effects of opium eradication are no longer clear-cut: in some cases the outcome may actually increase the land allocated to opium poppy. Finally, the results indicate that when opium is produced in sharecropping arrangements, increased risk of opium eradication will unambiguously make the tenants worse off, while landlords may actually benefit.Opium; Eradication; Futures markets; Sharecropping

FROM FREE TRADE TO PROHIBITION: A CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE MODERN ASIAN OPIUM TRADE

The article begins by exploring America\u27s current war on drugs and how it represents a misuse of its power and misperception of the global narcotics trade. It continues and puts forth that Asia\u27s opium production may soon increase to levels that will defeat the war on drugs now being waged by the United State and United Nations and goes into the the extent of Opium production in Asia. It then looks at a history of Opium trade, including the era which began prohibition and then the cold war, which began the expansion of the Asian opium trade. The article then discusses bilateral suppression. In 1972, President Nixon began the war on drugs, which actually stimulated the global market. Opium trade and production increased through the 1980\u27s and 1990\u27s. The article concludes by stating that production of drugs responds in unforeseen ways to reform, and before starting such reform, anti-narcotics agencies need to consider the full range of outcomes

The Opium Wars, Opium Legalization, and Opium Consumption in China

The effect of drug prohibition on drug consumption is a critical issue in debates over drug policy. One episode that provides information on the consumption-reducing effect of drug prohibition is the Chinese legalization of opium in 1858. In this paper we examine the impact of China's opium legalization on the quantity and price of British opium exports from India to China during the 19th century. We find little evidence that legalization increased exports or decreased price. Thus, the evidence suggests China's opium prohibition had a minimal impact on opium consumpton.

(Neo)Victorian Globalisation and Sino-Indian Relations in Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke (2011)

In light of renewed perspectives on Victorian global politics and international relations, this paper provides a close reading of Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke (2011). Set in 1839, this second instalment in the so-called Ibis trilogy portrays the trade of opium in early nineteenth-century Canton (today’s Guangzhou) and the Pearl River, casting a variety of characters into the waterways of Victorian imperial exploits right in the prelude to the First Opium War (1839-1842). The close reading provided in this paper pursues two objectives. Firstly, I analyse Ghosh’s neo-Victorian novel as marked by parallels between its narration of the prelude to the First Opium War as a crux in the history of nineteenth-century global trade and current political conflicts arising out of neo-liberal policies and globalisation, including Western military interventions under gunboat diplomacy. In this sense, I follow Sneha Kar Chaudhuri’s suggestion that the novel presages “twentieth- and twenty-first-century diaspora, globalisation, multiculturalism and their attendant dangers, such as drug-trafficking, continuing economic exploitation, and armed conflict over resources” (Chaudhuri 2011: 142). Secondly, I argue that the novel’s reconstruction of India’s involvement in nineteenth-century opium trade in China provides renewed perspectives on Sino-Indians relations in the Victorian period and today. In particular I argue that River of Smoke reconstructs a nineteenth-century Pan-Asian perspective on Indian Ocean relations by illustrating idioms, relations and spaces which escaped the control and hegemony of Victorian imperialism. Ultimately this paper concludes by suggesting that the novel reveals the continuities of the rhetorics of Free Trade and Victorian imperialism in the ideology of neo-liberalism and globalisation today, revealing the Opium Wars as a conflict which determined to a great extent current West-East relations.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Opium for the Masses? Conflict-Induced Narcotics Production in Afghanistan

We show that the recent rise in Afghan opium production is caused by violent conflicts. Violence destroys roads and irrigation, crucial to alternative crops, and weakens local incentives to rebuild infrastructure and enforce law and order. Exploiting a unique data set, we show that Western hostile casualties, our proxy for conflict, have strong impact on subsequent local opium production. This proxy is shown to be exogenous to opium. We exploit the discontinuity at the end of the planting season: Conflicts have strong effects before and no effect after planting, assuring causality. Effects are strongest where government law enforcement is weak.conflict, narcotics production, resource curse, Afghanistan

Epidemiological study of drug intoxication in children

Unintentional drug intoxication is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality in young children. In order to study the epidemiological pattern of childhood drug poisoning in Golestan province, all cases diagnosed with poisoning from 1997 to 2002 in the only pediatric hospital in province were recruited. During this period 563 cases of poisoned children were hospitalized in Taleqani hospital, of these 305 cases were due to drug poisoning. Opium was responsible for more than half of the poisoning cases, and 91% of deaths, among drug intoxicated children. Metoclopramide, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants were among the other frequent causes of poisoning. Neurological symptoms were the most prominent symptoms of poisoning and more than 80% of cases showed some neurological symptoms. Mortality rate among the cases was 3.6% and of total of 11 deaths, 10 were poisoned with opium. About 61% of cases were hospitalized between 24-48 hrs. Most of the poisoning cases in young children were unintentional and in many cases, their parents played a critical role in their intoxication. This role specially is crucial in infants and children under one year of age. Parents in Golestan province use opium widely for symptomatic treatment of routine illnesses in their young children and overdose of opium may cause severe intoxication and even death of the child. © 2006 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

The Opium Wars, Opium Legalization, and Opium Consumption in China

The effect of drug prohibition on drug consumption is a critical issue in debates over drug policy. One episode that provides information on the consumption-reducing effect of drug prohibition is the Chinese legalization of opium in 1858. In this paper we examine the impact of China's opium legalization on the quantity and price of British opium exports from India to China during the 19th century. We find little evidence that legalization increased exports or decreased price. Thus, the evidence suggests China's opium prohibition had a minimal impact on opium consumption.

The Colonization of Hong Kong: Establishing the Pearl of Britain-China Trade

We construct a staged development framework with multi-period discrete choices to study the colonization of Hong Kong, which facilitated the trade of several agricultural and manufactured products, including opium, between Britain and China. The model is particularly designed based on historical data and documentation collected from various sources. We show theoretically how institutions changed in response to the underlying key primitives and lead to the transition from the pre-Opium War era, to the post-Opium War era and then to the post-opium trade era, which span the period 1773-1933. Finally, we support our theoretical findings with historical evidence.Colonial Economy, Opium Trade, Endogenous Policy and Institutions, Staged Development.

Cross-sensitization between poppy seed and buckwheat in a food-allergic patient with poppy seed anaphylaxis

The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L., is the source of both poppy seeds and opium. The commercially available seeds are widely used as ingredients for various kinds of food. IgE-mediated sensitization to poppy seeds is rare, but, if present, clinical symptoms are usually severe. Cross-sensitizations between poppy seeds and other food allergens have been described with sesame, hazelnut, rye grain and kiwi fruit. We report the case of a 17-year-old female with an apparently food-allergic reaction after ingestion of a poppy seed cake. Allergological workup revealed a poppy seed anaphylaxis and led to the identification of a novel cross-sensitization with buckwheat. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Drugs and Violence in Afghanistan: A Panel VAR with Unobserved Common Factor Analysis

This paper addresses the relationship between the level of violence and the opium market in Afghanistan’s provinces. We first provide an overview of the nature and extent of the Afghan drug trafficking. This is followed by a VAR analysis of the nexus opium-insurgency activities using monthly time-series data on opium prices and the number of security incidents for 15 Afghan provinces over the period 2004-2009. We use a multifactor error structure, the Common Correlated Effect (CCE), to include unobservable common factors; Impulse Response functions to describe the time path of the dependent variables in response to shocks; and the Mean Group Estimator to summarize our results across the provinces. Results suggest a conflict-induced reduction in opium prices, while the reverse opium-violence mechanism is mostly negligible. Moreover, unobservable common factors are the main drivers of opium prices and violence.Conflict; Opium; Afghanistan