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100			_aSharma, Nabanita _949263
245			_aThe making of a ‘narco-state’: Opium consumption, trade and regulations on the northeastern frontier of British India
260			_aThe Indian Economic and Social History Review
300			_a61(3). Jul-Sep, 2024: p.293-324
520			_aOpium was one of the highly valued-commodities traded in the northeastern frontier of British India. This article argues that the introduction of opium in the region was in line with the British policy of introducing high-value commodities trade in the colonies. This policy helped extract raw materials and expand exchanges in new territories. Second, this policy of introducing cash crops was subtle. Opium was introduced as a cash crop decades before tea was ‘discovered’ in the region. The acreage remained low as compared to tea plantations. Opium’s value in terms of its revenue-generating capacity was the highest in comparison with tea and salt. Lastly, opium was disposed of through the state-run, monopolistic trade networks. Opium cultivation was discontinued in the British territories in Assam in 1860. All demands for poppy were subsequently met by importing opium from the rest of South Asia. The state-run and state-promoted tea and opium trades sustained the empire’s control over resources and lubricated the state machinery. Monopoly over the opium trade was crucial to control labour/resources and finance the Empire. The colonial regime built the ‘narco-state’ in the northeastern frontier to expand and sustain its trading interests. The exploration of the colonial policies and measures in this regard also interrogates the nature of political economy in the region in the period under study.- Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646241263938
650			_aAssamese, Botham committee, Burma, China, Law. _949264
773			_aThe Indian Economic and Social History Review v
942			_cAR