A Microhistory of Controlled Substances
From the Tang Dynasty Salt Tax to the Harrison Narcotics Act
State control of drugs is a phenomenon that goes back for millennia. It has taken many forms, and has occurred all over the world. I explore this history more fully in my forthcoming book High and Mighty: How People in Power Use Drugs. But I also touch on it throughout Drugism.
I’d like to share an excerpt from Drugism that serves as a sort of sneak peek at this larger history of drug control. While it is by no means comprehensive, the piece shared below covers a particularly important thread within this history. It examines how a series of events relating to a salt tax in Tang Dynasty China eventually led to the birth of the modern War on Drugs.
That’s right. Ancient salt taxes directly prefigured today’s drug prohibition paradigm.
By the way, I only had 5 subscribers when I posted this last year! (Shout-out to the OGs.) It’s hard to believe how far this Substack has come since then. Thank you! I figured that since 99% of you probably haven’t seen this, it might be worth sharing again. Enjoy:
And if you don’t feel like reading, you can listen to this interview I did with Tripsitter, which covers the same history in a fun, fast-paced conversation:
