“Fentanyl is now the No. 1 killer of Americans ages 18 to 45.”
In the mid-1800s, Great Britain engaged in two wars against China’s Qing dynasty. The conflicts began when the emperor attempted to crack down on the illegal opium trade that was causing widespread addiction with devastating economic and social upheaval in China.
By 1820, Britain’s East India Company was importing huge amounts of opium from India into China. In 1839, agents of the emperor confiscated and destroyed 1,400 tons of opium warehoused in Canton by British merchants. In response, British warships sailed up the Pearl River and attacked and occupied Canton, overwhelming the inferior Qing forces. This became known as the First Opium War. As a result, China was forced to cede Hong Kong to the British and expand their access from one to four ports. A Second Opium War in 1856 saw British warships capture Peking and burn the emperor’s summer palace, gaining access to many more mainland Chinese ports and the legalization of opium in a forced settlement. These became known as the Unequal Treaties. Merchants in other European nations, as well as the U.S., soon joined in the opium trade.
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