Opium in Singapore

Opium was first recorded in Singapore by a written document that recorded Stamford Raffles gifting opium to a local ruler in 1819 to establish Singapore. Opium then became accessible through trading in the 19th century. It was one of the most traded goods along the Sea Trade route after the end of the Opium Wars. With the rise of opium farms in Singapore, they acted as the middleman that helped to process raw opium imported from British India, Persia, and Turkey to consumable opium and retail them to the Chinese coolies in local. In 1946, opium, including the tools (opium pipes and opium lamps), and opium dens were completely banned in Singapore. To treat the opium addicts, an Opium Treatment Centre was opened in 1955 and in 1989, and the Singapore government extended the death penalty for opium traffickers.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.