Harrison Narcotics Act

11 Pages 2783 Words

freed African slaves, some of whom went in search of a different life in a different place, or at least a different occupation. There was also a great influx of another minority into the Untied States, the Chinese.
The Chinese were not well liked despite all they contributed to the rapid expansion of the country. Many took the places of newly freed slaves, and worked on plantations for inadequate pay. Most Chinese immigrants didn’t come here in hopes of hard work; they came here for the Gold Rush. The Gold Rush was the main reason for most of the immigration to the U.S. at the time. But when the Chinese arrived and reality set in, most were left with jobs in labor. The Transcontinental Railroad provided approximately 15,000 Chinese immigrants with jobs thanks to the Central Pacific Railroad. (AILF) So the Chinese worked hard, and were major factors in the United States growth, but what did they do in their leisure time to unwind or have fun? Unlike most of the American men, who went out for some drinks at the end of the day, the Chinese preferred their more calming custom, opium.
This wasn’t the only time the U.S. had to contend with large numbers of recreational opium users. After the Spanish-American War, the United States War Department took over governing the Philippine Islands, the United States inherited a whole system for licensing narcotics addicts and supplying them with opium legally - a system established under Spanish rule. A War Department Commission of Inquiry was appointed under the Right Reverend Charles H. Brent, Episcopal Bishop of the Philippine Islands, to study alternatives to the Spanish system. After taking evidence on programs of narcotics control throughout the Far East, the Brent Commission suggested that narcotics should be subject to international rather than merely national control. (Schaffer)
This proposal was well received in the United States State Department. For many years, Britain had been cr...