ABSTRACT
Dismissing the idea of ‘Prohibition’, the 1933 Assam Opium Enquiry Committee Report, had upheld the efficacy of the policy of gradual eradication of the opium habit by reduction and rationing. Moreover, it had endorsed the recommendations of the 1925 Assam Congress Opium Enquiry Report in propaganda work and organization of temperance societies begun at the initiative of M. K. Gandhi. The victory of the Congress-led coalition government in 1939 with Gopinath Bordoloi as leader of the government marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of opium regulation in Assam. In February 1939, the coalition Congress ministry announced an ‘opium eradication campaign’ to be launched on 15 April 1939. Building a congenial doctor-patient relationship was imperative for the recovery of the patient. Colonel Chopra also pointed out that while trying to get rid of their opium habit, biochemic preparations such as gentian and nux vomica could largely or totally replace the drug without the patients realizing it.
