Monday, January 11, 2010

Cambodia + China

In both China and Cambodia, drug trafficking created and epidemic that affected the entire country. In both cases, it was caused by foreign influence, as the Chinese would not have had access to opium without the British, just as the Cambodians would not have thought to distill drugs from trees without influence from western cultures. Both countries have lost/ are losing a great number of their people to drug addiction, although it is in different parts of society. In China, it was pretty much everyone that got addicted to opium, though one would assume that some of the much younger people stayed off it. However, in Cambodia, most of the addicts are from the younger part of society, so the country is not falling apart form the inside as much as China did.
ANother difference is where the drugs came from. WHile the opium snuck into China came from other British colonies, many of the drugs in Cambodia came from Cambodia. As a result, Cambodia is suffering from deforestation, poaching, and other environmental issues, whereas China did not receive the same environmental impact. Both countries have suffered from the impact of drug trafficking, and it is very difficult to say which situation is/was worse.

1 comment:

  1. Though I agree with most of what you said about the source of the drug and how it affected international, I am not sure I agree that the Cambodian situation is any less serious for only affecting the youth. I almost think that it is worse. The young people of a country are the future - if they are corrupt and unable to function, then the future of that country is shot. Certainly the affects are not seen immediately, but that will only ensure that the situation is all the more difficult later.

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