User:Uportu234/sandbox

= Japanese Opium Policy in Taiwan (1895 - 1945) = The Japanese empire occupied Taiwan (also known as Formosa) following its cessation from Qing dynasty China in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) at the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War. This period of occupation lasted until the Japanese surrender of WW2. During this period the colonial government of Japan initiated major policies to reduce the consumption of opium and opium derived products with much regarded success from contemporary sources both from the Japanese Colonial government and international sources.

Japanese views on opium
The Meiji Japanese held a negative viewed opium and regarded it as a uncivilized and lazy practice. These fears may have stemmed from their observation of its effects on the Chinese population as well as aggression from western powers to force its export.

These fears were exacerbated by American diplomats such as Townsend Harris that described opium as "the one great enemy of China" and that it "injures like the most deadly poison" .The Meiji government strictly prohibited importation, possession and usage of opium except for medicinal purposes until 1868. Opium smoking in Japan was a rare occurrence and the punishment of the practice strict.

During the cessation of Taiwan to Japan, opium smoking was regarded as one of the "Three vices" along with foot binding and the queue hairstyle that should be abolished. The Prime Mister at the negotiation of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Ito Hirobum i expressed that "There have been people living in Taiwan long before the arrival of opium,” and that "The Japanese government will definitely prohibit opium after occupying Taiwan" .However, there were fears that the practice may spread to Japan from Taiwan and also concerns that punishing opium usage could lead to anti-Japanese sentiment from Taiwanese locals.

Ito Hirobumi also expressed the contemporary Japanese view that that widespread opium usage was factor in Qing China's decline, stating "Opium smokers are rather lazy, and therefore soldiers cannot be at their best."

Opium usage in Taiwan prior to 1895
Opium usage in Taiwan dates back to the 17th century with the expansion of European trade operating in the South China Sea. Dutch merchants introduced a mixture of tobacco and opium known as madak into Taiwan that had been used by sailors to remedy the effects of malaria.

In China, opium usage had become an established practice following introduction by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. The practice proliferated following increased trade by Dutch merchants operating in the East China Sea in the early 17th century. There were reports of opium addicts along the Chinese coast and Taiwan (known as Formosa) as early as 1683.

Chinese immigrants to Taiwan helped spread this practice as did the increased trade in opium to the Qing Empire following the British victory in the Opium wars and the forced legalization of opium .The Chinese also began cultivating opium domestically in the 1860s.

Smoking opium became regarded as a recreational activity and social pastime especially by younger males. Prior to Japanese occupation,opium smoking was legal and widespread with an estimated of 10% of population engaging in it. The US Philippine Commission, Opium Investigation Committee estimated that prior to the occupation by Japan, Taiwanese opium addicts accounted for 7-8% of the population .During 1865 - 1894, opium importation to Taiwan accounted for 45-75% of total imports by value. From 1868-70, opium accounted for 72.6% of all imports by value.

The drug had become prevalent enough that false prohibition edicts were produced by Taiwanese resistance groups as a recruitment tool against the Japanese Colonial government.

Government policies
Governmental policies targeting opium usage urged a form of "gradual prohibition". Spearheaded by physician and politician Goto Shinpei, this approach arose out of the fear of anti-Japanese sentiment that could be raised by an outright prohibition of opium. Shinpei expressed that if strict opium prohibition was legislated and the death penalty applied, than "more than two divisions of Japanese soldiers would be needed to maintain order". Instead Ginpei preferred an approach of gradually reducing and eliminating the practice over a period of decades. The Governor-General adopted these proposals and created the Opium Monopoly system.

Ordinance regarding opium saw a shift in attitudes in 1930 and a more active measures were taken with a shift to active prohibition of the drug and the imposition of harsher penalties.

Monopolization of Opium
The Japanese Government instituted a policy of monopolization on opium production and sale in 1897. This was assigned to the office of the Monopoly Bureau of the Taiwan Governor's Office Chinese: 臺灣總督府專賣局 (currently known as the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL) (臺灣菸酒股份有限公司; Táiwān yān jiǔ gǔfèn yǒuxiàn gōngsī) established in 1901. This governmental body held the sole authority to produce and sell opium  . The bureau began requiring wholesale and retail opium merchants to be licensed  by the Monopoly Bureau as means of controlling sales of the drug.

Persons deemed as "addicts" by medical professionals were provided licenses by the colonial government to purchase and consume opium. Usage of opium without a license was prohibited. The colonial government then began registering these licenses opium users in 1900 as a means to track the shift in opium usage. In September 1900, it was found that there were 169,064 registered addicts in Taiwan (6.3% of the population). Through this system, license holders were given medicinal grade produced by the government similar to current methods of using methadone as a treatment for opioid addiction.

Monopoly control also extended to opium establishments and reflect the policy of gradual suppression. In 1900 there were 2659 licenses issued to merchants but this steadily declined to 1046 in 1910 and eventually 303 by 1940.

Opium houses that acted as cheap popular locations to socialize and use the drug were gradually reduced from 258 in 1897 to 29 in 1929 before being banned completely in 1929.

Standardizing Opium Products
The government monopoly system also extended to the production of opium and in 1896, the The Opium Production Office of the Taiwan Government-General (Taiwan so¯tokufu seiyaku sho) was established to research, transport and produce standardized opium pastes (these pastes were the most commonly used opium products and often smoked in a pipe) to suit the local needs of the Taiwanese.

Research was conducted into the consumption, production and potency of opium products. Pastes were categorized into three grades, with higher grades indicating greater concentration of morphine and thus a "better" product. This grading separated products to meet the needs all social classes, with 1st grade being targeted to higher class smokers, 2nd class for the middle class and 3rd class for the poorer, lower classes. The grading of the products corresponded to the three types of licenses issued by the Monopoly board. A red license allowed the provision of the 1st grade paste, green licenses denoted access to 2nd grade paste and yellow licenses being given third grade.

The overall aim of this practice was to control and satisfy the existing demand for opium and thus reduce the appeal of black market opium and illegal importation.



Inflation of Opium Prices
The Opium Monopoly bureau also artificially inflated the prices of opium gradually to dissuade the its consumption and adoption. From 1897-1912, the nominal price of was increased well above the real price before stabilizing between 1920-1938. This price inflation provided much of the colonial government's revenue especially during the earlier years of occupation. It was estimated that in 1900, the sale opium accounted for 20% of total government revenues. Most of this money was channeled into improving public healthcare as well as providing education in rural areas about the harmful effect of opium smoking.

Change in policies following 1930
The governor general in 1930 began imposing harsher regulations regarding opium usage more inline with those in place in Japan. This included the compulsory treatment of opium users as well as changes to the punishment of people caught breaching opium laws.

Previously illicit smoking was punishable by imprisonment or a fine but was changed solely to hard labor for a maximum of three years while opium smuggling penalties increased from a prison term of less than 5 years or a fine of up to 5000 yen, to imprisonment of up to 7 years.

The shift in policy reinfected domestic pressures from Taiwanese intellectuals as well as international pressure to adopt a more hard line approach to the issue of opium addiction.

Treatment of Addicts
From the period of 1930-1934 compulsory treatment of opium usage was pursued as governmental policy and during this period over 20,000 opium users underwent treatment. In 1929, 3884 users were forced to undergo treatment.

The colonial government established hospitals and facilities designed to treat heavy opium users that were deemed "addicts" .Hospitals established include the Taipei Healthy Life Institute (Taihoku Köseisho ) opened in 1930 and the Kösei Hospital (the Regeneration Hospital).

Treatment consisted providing opium smokers with opium powder or morphine hydrochloride as substitutes. The amount of drugs was then slowly modulated to wean off addicts while mitigating withdrawal effects.

Effectiveness of Policies
Government polices were regarded as mostly effective by the

The Japanese delegation to the International Opium Commission of 1909 in Shanghai, estimated that in 1900 opium smokers accounted for 6.3% of the population, a reduction from the 10-11% present in 1895. This decline continued in the subsequent years as shown in the table below. The number of registered opium users also declined as many ceased smoking and died from overuse.The number of licensed opium users declined from 169,064 (6.3% of the population) in 1895 to 3624 (0.056%of the population) by 1942. Annual opium consumption per capita also declined from 75 grams in 1900 to 46 grams in 1907, indicating a fall in the number of opium users as well as less the amounts used per person.

Foreign government's such as the United States deemed the gradual prohibition of the colonial government to have been effective at mitigating Taiwan's opium problem.

Opium revenues also fell during the period of Japanese administration another indication of the effectiveness of the polices. Despite opium sales accounting for 19.01% of government revenues in 1901 this had fallen to 0.14% by 1944.