In 1839, Chinese imperial commissioner Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of thousands of tons of British-imported opium. It was a political and moral gesture—an attempt to stop the degradation of a society consumed by addiction. The British Empire responded with war. Thus began the First Opium War.
That episode, often relegated to textbooks, is not just a colonial memory. It is a symbolic warning. Today, the substances have changed, but the mechanism of control is intact. Fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and cocaine have replaced raw opium. The ports have moved. The battlefield is now internal: within communities, within minds.
Every June 26, the world observes the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Beyond official slogans, the date invites us to ask an uncomfortable question: Why does the need for chemical escape continue to grow in the 21st century?
More than 292 million people worldwide use illicit drugs. The numbers are not just statistics. They speak to something deeper: a civilization unable to process its own anguish. The opioid epidemic is not only a health crisis—it is a mirror reflecting structural abandonment, emotional illiteracy, and the privatization of suffering.
In Argentina, the picture is equally stark. From suburban cocaine to cheap paco in the villas, the anesthetization of pain has become part of daily life. The public health response is fragmented, stigmatizing, and underfunded. Criminal networks fill the gaps left by the state, offering meaning, money, and identity—even if poisoned.
This year, the UN campaign message is simple: “Invest in prevention. Break the cycle. Stop organized crime.”
But breaking the cycle will require more than policy. It requires a cultural shift. It demands that we treat the person who uses not as a criminal, but as a messenger. A sign that something is broken.
What are drugs today, if not the symptom of an age that has lost the ability to listen to pain?
Lin Zexu tried to cleanse a nation. We must now cleanse the narratives. Not with moralism or punishment, but with empathy and deep institutional transformation.
Because this is not only a war on drugs. It is a war on meaninglessness.
And no society survives that for long.
Further reading:
– UNODC World Drug Report 2024
– UN International Day 2025 Campaign
– SEDRONAR (Argentina)