British Raj in India: How Colonial Rulers Used Opium Farming to Further Exploits

Manuel's book explains how the British obsession with the global drug, wrought misery & exploitation on the farmers.

Thomas Manuel's book Opium Inc: How a Global Drug Trade Funded the British Empire untangles the less explored side of history and explains how British colonialism was once a Narco-state that turned the farming lands of India into opium-producing machines. Thomas Manuel is an Indian journalist and an award-winning playwright who frequently writes for The Wire, The Hindu, and The Nib. 

Thomas Manuel uncovered the story of a global drug trade operated and rationalised by the British Raj in India to expand its revenue. Opium became the British's third highest source of income after land and salt.

The obsession of Britain to cultivate milk of the poppy was triggered by their economic ambitions, which wrought misery and exploitation on the farmers of India.