OPIUM IN INDIA | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 24.

OPIUM IN INDIA.

The Bombay Guardian of November 25 publishes an account of the first public sitting in India of the Royal Commission on Opium, and says:

"On Monday, the 20th, the first witness was Dr. J. M. Thoburn, missionary bishop in India of the American Methodist Episcopal Church. He came to India as a missionary in 1859. He spoke from his personal experience of opium smokers in various parts of India. He considered the opium habit morally and physically degrading. He believed the value claimed for opium as preventing fever was a delusion. People who used opium were capable of short physical efforts above ordinary powers, but the reaction was terrible, and they, having no powers of endurance, soon broke down. Among natives the opium habit was considered a vice, and opium eaters disreputable, and unless well-to-do they were generally unreliable and dishonest. The habit was causing the starvation of millions of children. He thought the masses of the people would be overwhelmingly in favor of closing opium shops. He saw no particular difficulty in the performance of such a measure. He would tax tobacco instead. If the present policy was pursued, the habit would increase. He would prohibit ganja also. He believed missionaries in India generally shared his views."

—Gospel in All Lands.