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The historical development of British policies on intoxicating substances such as opium and cannabis in colonial India was influenced by a combination of colonialism, political economy, and morality. This chapter examines how the British government attempted to establish regulations on the use of drugs in colonial India and explores how these regulations, laws, and commissions contributed to the establishment of legal and vigilant regimes in the nineteenth century. This study goes beyond the legislative actions taken by the British administration. It explores the wielding of authority by the British administration in shaping drug policies for the ‘relentless drive for profit. This authority was centred around colonial morality. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section provides a historiographical background on the development of the drug economy in colonial India, focusing on three distinct presidencies—Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. The second section investigates British drug policies’ political, moral, and economic dimensions. Finally, the third part of the chapter explores how the Royal Commission on Opium (1893) and the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1893–1894) served as instrumental tools in organising drug knowledge, legitimising controlled consumption, and ultimately shaping the drug policy of the colonial state.

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Taxing Intoxication and Nudging Consumption: A Historical Assessment of the British Empire’s Nineteenth-Century Drug Policies in the Madras Presidency

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Arun Thomas

摘要

The historical development of British policies on intoxicating substances such as opium and cannabis in colonial India was influenced by a combination of colonialism, political economy, and morality. This chapter examines how the British government attempted to establish regulations on the use of drugs in colonial India and explores how these regulations, laws, and commissions contributed to the establishment of legal and vigilant regimes in the nineteenth century. This study goes beyond the legislative actions taken by the British administration. It explores the wielding of authority by the British administration in shaping drug policies for the ‘relentless drive for profit. This authority was centred around colonial morality. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section provides a historiographical background on the development of the drug economy in colonial India, focusing on three distinct presidencies—Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. The second section investigates British drug policies’ political, moral, and economic dimensions. Finally, the third part of the chapter explores how the Royal Commission on Opium (1893) and the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1893–1894) served as instrumental tools in organising drug knowledge, legitimising controlled consumption, and ultimately shaping the drug policy of the colonial state.