this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023
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Failure to enforce drug prohibition resulted in Qing China having a nationwide addiction epidemic for British opium, resulting in the opium wars, the country's bankruptcy, partial European colonization as well as the so-called "century of humiliation". The effects of this addiction epidemic are still being felt nowadays, e.g. in widespread racism towards Asian people as well as the current opioid epidemic where Chinese-made fentanyl is exported worldwide with the unofficial sanction of the Chinese government.
This is the reason why drug prohibition is a thing, and why many Asian countries have death sentences even for simple possession of narcotics.
This is such a bastardization of history. Shame on you for spreading this nonsense.
Yeah... Racism has nothing to do with the historical opium epidemic in China. Racists just racist. Anyone different from them too, like LGBTQ, and intellectuals.
There are racists everywhere that's true, but people who are naturally racist are rare because racism is something that is taught. The lack of a strong voice for minority races is what allows racists in power to normalize their discrimination against them, eventually making it a systemic and widespread phenomenon.
You argue that the opium epidemic has absolutely zero effect on racism towards Chinese people. However I say that the opium epidemic directly started a chain of events that led to the downfall of the Chinese government, which enabled racist people to teach their racism to the government and the rest of society without fear of repercussions, therefore enabling widespread and systemic racism against Asians.
I'm sorry, I've never seen any mention linking racism to be caused by the Chinese opium epidemic. Because it's not true. Racism is the belief that one's own race is superior to others. In order for the opium epidemic to have caused it initially, the common person would have had to know about it at some point.
Due to the speed at which information traveled, hardly anyone was aware, let alone understood, that there was an entire country being controlled by opium sales from Britain.
What I'm trying to point out is that a racist individual will be racist no matter the cause, they were predisposed to think their race superior.
There is no way you just compared modern drugs and war on drugs on the fucking Qing China.
Especially when there are MODERN examples of drug decriminalisation that work, like Portugal or Switzerland.
You are either completely ignorant or stupid to ignore it and use a fucking ancient example instead
Why not? The opium wars are a dark spot in Chinese history and the fascist CCP government is hell bent on "revenge" against the west for that. That's why the CCP is exporting fentanyl to the west via shell companies and causing the modern opioid epidemic. I would like to see how decriminalization can deal with a targeted attack like that.
Yeah, it's not about empathy for you at all
You're a cog in the machine and they're protecting the machine, not you.
there are better solutions:
https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2019/01/21/switzerland-couldnt-stop-drug-users-so-it-started-supporting-them/
This approach is 100 years after prohibition. Hopefully it can overcome the institutional momentum of current drug laws and get implemented in more places.
Faulty premises lead to faulty conclusions.
You know, that sounds like a convenient bullshit story by statists and other mobster to justify their never ending violence. Also, Britain weaponizing drugs, big cringe. You guys deserve thermonuclear armageddon so bad.
The fact that people who can produce brain farts like you are allowed to vote, should tell everyone why pure democracy cant work.