The Opium Debate

Diana Ahmad in The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth-Century American West (University of Nevada Press, 2007) argues that in addition to the traditional explanations for the Chinese Exclusion Act, (economic, political and more recently, prostitution) smoking opium was part of the reason many Anglo-Americans pushed for Chinese exclusion. Ahmad also distinguishes smoking-opium and medicinal-opium as two separate entities, claiming that it was the smoking variety that offended the moral character of Anglo-Americans. Ahmed mainly uses primary sources in the form of newspaper articles from western states such as Montana, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada published between 1864 and 1920. These states had large Chinese
populations due to economic opportunities such as mining, and thus were at the forefront of Chinese exclusion. Selected articles from the The San Francisco Chronicle, The Helena Daily Herald, and The Reno Evening Gazette provide insight into Anglo public and political opinion on which Ahmad bases her argument. Ahmad also uses territorial, state and federal laws regarding Chinese populations and opium dens dated between 1866 and 1910. Laws such as these were often the direct result of the aforementioned public opinion regarding Chinese morality. Such laws and political discussions include the “Abolition of the Opium Evil” from the 63rd Congress, and “General Orders of the Board of Supervisors Providing Regulations for the Government of the City and County of San Francisco and Ordinances of Park Commissioners”(115).