ABSTRACT
Drug control policy was never considered a fit subject for diplomacy until the government of the United States decided to formulate policy. In 1906, the United States launched a series of initiatives aimed at curtailing the illicit drug trade. These efforts were not made in response to any serious drug problems within U.S. borders, or anywhere else in Europe, for that matter. Rather, they were exercises in international relations, designed to serve U.S. political needs. The United States was not an opium producer, and there were relatively few addicts within its borders. But in 1898, at the end of the SpanishAmerican War, the United States had taken possession of the Philippine Islands, and it found itself in much the same position as Japan in 1905, when it acquired Taiwan — ward to a large population of addicted opium smokers.
