Globalisation, cultural change and the modern drug epidemics: the case of Hong Kong

This paper focuses on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, one of the localities in the world where the process of globalisation is m ost advanced, in order to examine the relationship between globalisation an d the risk of illicit drug problems. It considers the impact of globalisati on on both the supply side and the demand side of the illicit drugs market in Hong Kong. It is argued that, historically, the trade in dependence-prod ucing substances like tobacco and opium was central to the creation of a wo rld market; in particular, the nineteenth-century drive to bring Southeast Asia into a system of world trade led to the production and marketing of op ium on an organised commercial basis, triggering the first of the modern dr ug 'epidemics'. Hong Kong, ceded to the British following the first Opium W ar, was central to this project, and to the creation of the financial and t ransport infrastructure needed to support large-scale opium trading. The Br itish promoted the consumption of opium within Hong Kong, where its sale su bsidised the colonial administration, with the consequence that opium use b ecame widespread, and the postwar attempt to make opiates illegal was resis ted. On the demand side it is argued that, by weakening traditional society through the phenomenon of disembedding, globalisation both created a colle ctive crisis of identity and a means by which this might be resolved, throu gh self conscious participation in an internationalised consumer culture, o riented towards drug use. It is concluded that globalisation may generate a new set of risks. The impact of globalisation on psychoactive substance us e, in particular, deserves further investigation.