On The Opium Abuse And The Control In Modern Suzhou

Since the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840, opiate drugs had flown into China at a large amount. Suzhou, well-known as the paradise in China, which is located in the coastal regions in the South of the Yangtze River and characterized by developed economy, prosperous culture, and convenient location, was trapped in drug abuse very early. In modern times, the abuse of opium smoking came out top across Jiangsu Province, with the features of large amount of smokers from different areas, various sorts of drugs, and great sales of opium. The reason of this phenomenon lay in that imperialists carried out degeneration policy and opium trade to China, which was fully demonstrated by the formation of Suzhou system in the trade of Britain with China, the setup of customs pass in Suzhou and explosive growth of drug amount after Japan occupied Suzhou in 1937. Besides that, it is convenient to transport drugs into Suzhou as this city boasted developed economy and advantageous location which is close to Shanghai. Local warlord and social evil power in Suzhou also added fuel to the fire for the abuse of drugs.The abuse of drugs in Suzhou in modern times not only did harm to people's physical and psychological health, but only had a bad impact on residents'living standard, social conduct and social stability. Meanwhile, the flow of abundant fund into drug trade and consumption also hindered the development of ethnic industry and commerce.Since modern times, the management characters and results concerning drug abuse in Suzhou have a direct relation with the power of the central government. Accordingly, we can divide the management of drug abuse in Suzhou into two stages. The initial stage lasted from the period of Daoguang Reign to the Republic of China. As the central government was weak in power, local official (such as Lin Zexu, Li Xiucheng, Tan Jixun, Tan Xuche, Chen Kuilong, Cheng Dequan,etc.) and non-governmental opium-smoking ban organization (like Suzhou Opium-Smoking Ban Association and Suzhou Chamber of Commerce, etc. played a major role in the smoking ban. During the reign of Nanjing National Government, as the central government grew strong in power, it became to play a major role in smoking ban in Suzhou area, which was reflected by well-equipped institution, sound regulations and strengthened publicity, scientific methods, rehabilitation measures regarding opium-smoking ban, as well as the emphasis on the non-governmental power in the smoking ban.Since modern times, although Suzhou had achieved some positive results in management of drug abuse, the drug smoking never disappeared. There were many reasons for that situation. On one hand, it was mainly caused by the drug trade of imperialists with China and their obstruction and destruction to China's banning act. On the other hand, successive governments in old China failed to make up their mind to ban the opium smoking out of the consideration of economic interest, and the corruption of government officials and administrators and the existence of a good many poor people also led to the drug abuse problem.Through the retrospection of Suzhou drug abuse problem and its administration in modern times, we know that the governance of drug abuse is actually a systematic social project. The independence of a country and a nation and the regime property (whether it stands for the interest of great masses) is a crucial prerequisite to resolve drug abuse problem completely, which could be fully explained by the complete ban on the opium smoking at the initial stage in the establishment of new China. In addition, the anti-drug campaign for all the citizens, the reinforcement of anti-drug lawmaking and international cooperation on drug ban also plays an important role in banning drug smoking completely. This research is made on the overall and systematic analysis of drug abuse problem and its administration in Suzhou in modern times, as well as the summary of lessons got from that, which may serve as guidance to the present anti-drug work in China.