Opium’s OrphansOpium's Orphans is the first full history of drug prohibition and the 'war on drugs'. A no holds barred but balanced account, it shows that drug suppression was born of historical accident, not rational design. The war on drugs did not originate in Europe or the US, and even less with President Nixon, but in China. Two Opium Wars followed by Western attempts to atone for them gave birth to an anti narcotics order that has come to span the globe. But