This paper uses California's first opium law in 1875 to examine the process of early drug legislation, specifically the political and economic conditions leading up to the passage of the law. We explore the possibility that initial opium prohibition was simply a component of a larger process of social control aimed at securing the isolation of the Chinese in the lower rungs of the labor market. It is suggested that analyses of social control must take into account the interrelationship between economic, political and ideological motivations behind any quest for prohibitive legislation.
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