Cannabis Britannica: Empire, Trade, and Prohibition 1800-1928

Cannabis Britannica explores the historical origins of the UK's legislation and regulations on cannabis preparations before 1928. In 2003 the role of government in the regulation of cannabis is as hotly debated as it was a century ago. It draws on published and unpublished sources from the seventeenth century onwards from archives in the UK and India to show how the history of cannabis and the British before the twentieth century was bound up with imperialism. In this lively study James Mills explores the historical background of cannabis legislation, arguing that the drive towards prohibition grew out of the politics of empire rather than scientific or rational assessment of the drug's use and effects. The book is the first full history of the origins of the moments when cannabis first became subjected to laws and regulations in Britain.