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I had trouble sleeping last night because of this fact that @sharanvkaur pointed to me: in 1933 - when Lee Kuan Yew was 10 years old - ONE in FOUR Chinese adults in Singapore were addicted to opium. ONE IN FOUR bicentennial.sg/highlights/fin… 
Between 1825 and 1910, opium accounted for up to 55% of the British government’s revenue! More than half!!
I’ve mentioned before in conversations with friends that “drug policy in Singapore is like gun policy in the US - it goes beyond rational cost-benefit analysis, it goes deep into the psycho-history of the population.” I believed this, but I didn’t realize just how deep it went
I’m actually a little hesitant to read + learn too much about the history of colonialism because I have a feeling it will literally make me sick. I’ll have to work up to it in small doses, like strength training. It’s a tightrope for sensitive people
