Opium, Heroin and South Asia

The pro-heroin effects of anti-opium laws in Asia.

Over 25 years anti-opium laws were enacted by three Asian governments in countries where opium use was traditional. Within months, heroin use suddenly appeared; and within a decade, heroin addiction surpassed opium addiction. The laws led to (1) increased price of narcotic drugs, (2) a heroin "industry," (3) corruption of the law enforcement system, and (4) major health problems involving paren...

Opium and the beginnings of Chinese capitalism in Southeast Asia.

This article deals with the relationship between opium revenue farming and the development of capitalist enterprises in Southeast Asia. It examines the role which opium played in the transformation of all Asian economies during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While few would deny that the unprecedented expansion of the opium trade by European traders had a major, usually destructi...

Multiple Sclerosis Epidemiology in East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common chronic immune-mediated diseases of the human central nervous system and an important cause of non-traumatic neurologic disability among young population in several countries. Recent reports from East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia have proposed a low to moderate prevalence of MS in these countries. METHODS A literature review...

Comparative Evaluation of Psychiatric Disorders in Opium and Heroin Dependent Patients

Abstract Background: Opium dependency is an important health problem in Iran. Several studies show that most opium dependent patients have concomitant psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was evaluation of psychiatric disorders in opium dependency in comparison with heroin dependency. Methods: This is a descriptive study on 192 male opium dependent patients who were admitted i...

Surgery in South Asia.