[jayef]

Ah yes, the Opium Wars. If ever there was a case against state involvement in the drug trade, this is it. To those of you that want drugs to be legal, but taxed/regulated by the FedGov, you'd better think again. Say NO to prohibition! Say NO to taxation and regulation!

[Tony Niar Brain]

In the Opium Wars, the Chinese wanted to hault the inflow of Indian opium from British merchants because of the crippling rate of opium addiction in China, and threatened boycotts of all British goods. The British, in response, attacked and destroyed military instillations and towns along the coast of China and forced them to sign their treaty, allowing them unrestricted opium trade. The Opium Wars weren't about local gov't involvement in the trade so much as letting malevolent foreign entities control the trade.