The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth... - 9780874178449

The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth-Century American WestAuthor(s): Diana L. Ahmad\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of Nevada Press, United States\nImprint: University of Nevada Press\nISBN-13: 9780874178449, 978-0874178449\nSynopsis\nAmericas current \""\""war on drugs\""\"" is not the nations first. In the mid-nineteenth century, opium-smoking was decried as a major social and public health problem, especially in the West. Although China faced its own epidemic of opium addiction, only a very small minority of Chinese immigrants in America were actually involved in the opium business. It was in Anglo communities that the use of opium soon spread and this growing use was deemed a threat to the nations entrepreneurial spirit and to its growing mportance as a world economic and military power. The Opium Debate examines how the spread of opium-smoking fueled racism and created demands for the removal of the Chinese from American life. This meticulously res.