Drug War History: Opium, Chinese Immigration & The Rise of the “Yellow Peril”
<p>The racialization of our country’s drug policies are a feature of the system, not a bug. From the very beginning, one of the explicit goals of American drug enforcement policy has been the demonization of what Harry Anslinger — the grandfather of modern-day drug enforcement — believed to be ”<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eVU_4QMn2kAC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=the+degenerate+races+anslinger&ots=f5AxZL2wbj&sig=ACfU3U2GiAmNvxvXDuZKn8DIRtpxHnWumA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjopujKy53qAhUllXIEHTGEBVY4FBDoATAAegQIChAB#v=onepage&q=the%20degenerate%20races%20anslinger&f=false" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">the degenerate races</a>”. An often-overlooked part of this history is the way anti-Chinese sentiment fueled the enactment of America’s first drug control efforts.</p>
<p>The Angell Treaty of 1880, which was enacted in response to the rapid rise of anti-Chinese sentiment during the 1870s, banned Chinese nationals from importing smoking-opium into the United States. Pharmacologically identical, but less potent than other opium derivatives, smoking-opium was — at least at first — largely consumed by Chinese immigrants in California. </p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/equityorg/drug-war-history-opium-chinese-immigration-the-rise-of-the-yellow-peril-6aa89d36392a"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>