ndia—especially Punjab—is drowning
in opiates. But there’s almost nothing to
relieve the pain of the ailing and dying.
India is one of the largest producers of legal
morphine in the world, says renowned palliative
care physician M.R. Rajagopal. Due to draco-
nian laws, doctors here have only some 37 kg of
the stuf to meet a demand for 36,000 kg.
A far worse drug problem is sweeping the
United States, fuelled by the easy access to pre-
scription opioids, especially fentanyl. Drug
addicts often mix it with the heroin flooding
the country. In 2016 alone, fentanyl misuse was
blamed for 20,000 deaths. Few doctors there
are trained in treating patients with drug addic-
tion, and law enforcement agencies are unable
to stop the flow of illegal drugs now that the
trade has shifted to the internet and bitcoin.
No other plant on earth has helped or harmed
humans as much as Papaver somniferum, as his-
torian Lucy Inglis shows in her well-researched
and heavily illustrated book
Milk of Paradise. It is essen-
tially three books in one: the
history of opium and how it
was traded between the West
and the East; the record of
the isolation of morphine and
the scientific and political
changes it brought about in
the 19th century; and the story
of its refinement into heroin
of varying grades and its easyPLAIN
KILLER
BOOKSI
Opiates
have created
a seemingly
unstoppable
public health
crisis, writes
Lucy InglisMILK OF PARADISE:
A History of Opium
by LUCY INGLIS
Macmillan
440 pages; ` 699adulteration, which produced millions of addicts. The
earlier sections make for heavy reading. The book gets
more interesting when she talks of the modern opiates.
She minces no words regarding the role of Big Pharma
in fuelling the epidemic and quotes an Illinois state
attorney as saying “the source of this crisis is not on
street corners; it’s in boardrooms”.
From ancient Mesopotamia to the present-day US,
artists, writers and singers have relied on narcotics and
alcohol to fuel their creativity. Nations have battled to
control narcotics, in vain, primarily because of the moun-
tains of illegal money involved. The associated crime,
prostitution and disease have rarely worried capitalists or
communists. Papaver somniferum has survived empires,
and will continue to do so. It is one of the greatest global
commodities, says Inglis, and “we must seek to mitigate
the harm it can do while retaining our faith in the mar-
vels it can achieve. This will be our endless opium war”.
—G. KrishnanCULT OF A DARK
Nicholson o
by STUART FL
I.B
242 pages;John Nicholson led the
assault against the
uprising of 1857. In
times, descriptions
have been less flat
Flinders investiga
charismatic soldier’s
sexuality and religious views
EMPRESS: The Astonishing
Reign of Nur Jahan
by RUBY LAL
Penguin
308 pages; ` 599Jahangir’s wife Nur Jahan
ruled the Mughal empire
alongside him, and then on his
behalf when he fell sick. Lal’s
engrossing biography
unveils how she defied the
presumptions of her time (and
many of ours)