Kōrero: Drugs

Anti-opium petition

This petition from G. W. Moy, an Auckland Chinese market gardener, and 34 other Chinese people was presented to Parliament in 1901. Like other petitions from the Chinese community at that time it noted that opium-smoking was morally and physically degrading, and stated that while it was largely confined to the Chinese community, it was spreading to the 'European youths of the colony'. The campaign against opium-smoking was very much an initiative of the Chinese, who sought to reform and improve their own people, but did play on fears that others might become addicted. Parliament quickly responded with an act prohibiting both the smoking of opium and the importation of the drug in a form suitable for smoking.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Reference: LE1 378 1901/7

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Jock Phillips, 'Drugs - Restricting drugs, 1866 to 1965', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/zoomify/39561/anti-opium-petition (accessed 25 April 2024)

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 5 Sep 2013