How the Opium Wars Worked

This 2019 episode shares how Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous by boiling pee. But he was really thought the secret to the philosopher’s stone might be found in urine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Tracy talks about amusing old illustrations of babies in utero. Holly shares anecdotes about George Stephenson's life that rarely make it into discussions of his life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

George Stephenson started life in extremely humble circumstances, but his ingenuity and pursuit of education led him to an impressive legacy. He invented a miner’s lamp, but is most well known for his work on locomotives and railways. Research: “George Stephenson (1781-1848).” ht ... Show More

<p>2/2. The British Empire aggressively pursued the opium trade well into the 19th century, fueling an addiction epidemic within China. The Qing government was determined to stamp out this destructive trade, leading to the First and Second Opium Wars. But the British Royal Navy w ... Show More

Over the last two decades, the Taliban have moved from simply taxing Afghanistan's opium farmers to controlling every link in the chain of the world's biggest heroin supply. In Afghanistan's Opium Nation, we took you through the history of Afghanistan's opium and heroin industry ... Show More

For decades, starting a few years even before the Taliban took power the first time around, Afghanistan has dominated the world’s opium and heroin market, in some years producing up to 90% of the global supply. It’s also provided hundreds of millions of all dollars for all sorts ... Show More

<p>The War on Drugs being waged against opioids is very different than the one that was fought against crack. Learn more about the politics of race and addiction in this episode of BrainStuff.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwo ... Show More

Laila Haidari set up Kabul's first independent drug rehabilitation centre in 2010. Having helped her own brother to quit his heroin addiction she wanted to help others. More than 80% of the world's illegal opium and heroin comes from Afghanistan. International criminal groups hav ... Show More

<p>US President Richard Nixon declared illegal drugs 'public enemy number one' in 1971 and launched a worldwide 'war' on the narcotics trade. 50 years on we revisit key moments in the ongoing fight against the powerful criminal groups involved from Columbia to Afghanistan. We'll ... Show More

For over a century Mexico has been embroiled in a drug war dictated by the demands of their neighbor to the north. In The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade (W. W. Norton, 2021), Benjamin T. Smith offers a history of the trade and its effects upon the people of Mexi ... Show More

<p>Au XIXe siècle, l’opium se répand à travers toute l’Asie, sous l’impulsion des puissances coloniales.<br/><br/>Parallèlement, l’industrie pharmaceutique occidentale découvre des produits miraculeux : morphine, cocaïne, héroïne. L’addiction devient un fléau mondial et un enjeu ... Show More

Historian Christopher Goscha explores the decade-long conflict between the French empire and Ho Chi Minh’s communist Vietnamese forces that followed the Second World War. Speaking to Rob Attar, he argues that the Vietnamese triumph was unlike any other anti-colonial struggle of t ... Show More