HIST-3790H: Opium & Making of Modern World

Instructor: Van Nguyen-Marshall

Course Code: HIST 3790

When Taken: Fall 2023

Major Essay: Determining Danger_ The 1961 UN Single Convention On Narcotic Drugs

This was the first time that this course ran, and that comes with all the usual problems of pacing. Regardless, I really liked the course and it’s content. It wasn’t a particularly challenging course, but it was interesting the constant connections between history of colonial East Asia and modern conflicts surrounding opium. It challenged a view that opium is always harmful, and fought against proposals for outright prohibition. I found these persuasive, and have since used the evidence presented in this course to resist arguments from my family and peers which seek to villainize drugs and their users.