In 1700 the Dutch introduced smoking opium to the Chinese by 1729 Yung Cheng, Emperor of China issues and decree prohibiting the smoking of opium except by medical practitioners.

By 1750 Bengal and Bihar, opium-growing districts of India are taken over and now under control of the East India Company. The company dominates the opium trade from Calcutta shipped directly to China. By 1767, the British East India Company's import of opium to China reaches a unbelievable two thousand chests of opium per year. Another seven years puts the British East India Company in a monopoly over all the opium produced in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Warren Hastings introduces system of contracts. Contracts for dealing in opium were awarded through auction.



By 1793, All poppy growers in India were forbidden to sell opium to rival trading companies due to the British East India Company monopoly over opium. In 1796, silver was being smuggled out of China to pay to get Opium smuggled in. Just one year later in 1797 The British East India Company introduced Bengal Regulation IV which enabled selection of Opium Agents for acquisition of opium from cultivators and its processing at factories owned by the company at Patna and Ghazipur, India

Is anyone starting to see where this might be headed?