Today let’s talk a little about

facts that nobody knows

or maybe somebody knows

trivia of opium

Let’s begin

Opium is not slices of ducks*

( Opium is called “Ya Pien” in Chinese; “Ya” pronounced the same as “Duck” while “Pien” means “Slice”)

It is an all-in-one product abstracted from Papaver somniferum

It can be used as anesthesia for medical purposes

but long-term overdosing can cause hallucination

Making people think they are Lucy

and turn into a flash drive in the end

What the__

Forbidding the use of opium

had slowly become an international trend during Japanese rule

The use of opium was strictly prohibited in Japan as well

However when it comes to Taiwan

Japan discussed over and over

about whether they should

strictly restrict, gradually restrict or leave the problem alone?

Goto Shinpei, who was the Minister of public health of Home Ministry at that time

received attention by his “slow weaning prohibition”

Goto Shinpei got the chance

to go hand in hand, heart to heart with Kodama Gentaro

They fought together for Taiwan’s future

Governor-General monopolized opium trade to control number of addicts

which means they need permits given by doctors in order to buy opium

As time goes by

the number of addicts dropped

However, the average amount of opium consumption per person increased

This made people doubt the Governor General’s determination of prohibiting opium

Aside from the fact that slow weaning prohibition

had higher practicability than comprehensive prohibition

the main concern was financial

So the prohibition

went on and off all the way till 1929

Governor General decided to increase the issue of permits

This made Taiwanese intellectuals so furious

that they clench their fists

and reported the act to the League of Nations

saying that Japan was evil

and the policy was drugging Taiwan

drrrrrugging

Later on Governor General wanted to stop people’s protest

and try to promote the policy

So they invited the author of “General History of Taiwan”

the father’s father’s father of Lien Sheng-wen, Lian Heng

Hey

Umm…

Buchi

What?

The election is close

This topic

is unmentionable

Can you help me pixelate it?

Sure

They asked Lian Heng to write an article

that worth 5 hundred Japanese Yen

“New Opium Policy Advocacy”

500 Yen was a number that a school teacher

couldn't even earn a year

“New Opium Policy Advocacy”

not only praised opium

but also defended the new policy

That's why Lian Heng ended up being despised by most Taiwanese

and had to flee to mainland for the greater good. So sad

After the chatty talk

the use of opium issue is still unsolved

Under the pressure of public opinion

The Governor General who now have enough money

finally started to rectify the use of opium

in which we mustn’t forget to mention the first Doctor of Medical Science in Taiwan

The Marvelous Ming, Mr. Tu Tsung Ming

He founded the Opium Rehab in 1930

More than a decade of hard work

The opium monopoly finally ended in 1945

A year later the last opium addict was out of rehab

which marked the end of the vise that lasted for more than 300 years

Moreover, urinalysis on drug use developed by Mr. Tu

is still being used by the world today

Now you know why drug addicts have to pee in a cup

Ahem

Looking back on the whole story, we can find that

the development of opium policies

had a specific target they are going after

or had entanglements on profits

making the problem very complicated

Maybe we shouldn't judge it simply by

agreeing that taking drugs is bad bad

arresting addicts is good good

Rather, we should consider that

when government implement policies

do they have any factors

other than right or wrong that they have to consider?

Last but not least, travel back in time

how would you deal with the situation?

The story ends here today

See ya