Flower of Joy

Flower of Joy, first published in 1944, is a fascinating look at drug use and efforts to control illicit drugs in the 1930s and 40s. Author Hendrik DeLeeuw, a former investigator of narcotics for the League of Nations, describes his visits to Egypt, India, Persia (now Iran), French Indo-China, the East Indies, China, Japan, Nazi Germany and the U.S. As DeLeeuw states, it is the story of those who do not “live out their dreams but dream out their lives.” Flower of Joy provides valuable insight into drugs such as opium, heroin, hashish and marijuana, and their culture, processing, use and cultural impacts such as ritual uses, prostitution and white-slavery rings, and the addiction of children in war-torn areas.. The book also examines government efforts to control drugs on the one hand while often receiving massive profits from the sale and taxation of the drugs.