Chapter 867: Impossible to Wash Clean
"On the Harmfulness of Opium—what the hell is this garbage? How could such content be published?!
Henry, get your ass over here! You'd better give me a reasonable explanation right now..."
The man flying into a rage was George-Grand, Britain's renowned opium tycoon, easily ranked among the top ten opium merchants in the world.
As one of those with vested interests, George-Grand, like every other opium dealer, had always firmly believed that opium was a panacea and that selling it was an act of salvation.
George-Grand had always loathed the outside world's condemnation of opium's harmfulness.
As science and technology advanced, more and more people came to recognize the dangers of opium and stepped forward to call on the government to ban its circulation.
In order to continue reaping huge profits from the opium trade, the opium merchants naturally had to bury these dissenting voices. To that end, they did not hesitate to spend vast sums of their profits bribing government officials, newspapers, and members of parliament.
What appeared to be an opium trade led by opium dealers was, in truth, a feast where British bureaucrats, parliamentarians, and the media all gathered to carve up the spoils.
Driven by profit, these vested interests had worked together to barely suppress the domestic calls for the complete prohibition of opium.
Now that he saw a newspaper publishing an article exposing the dangers of opium, George-Grand was naturally unhappy. It meant he would have to pay an even greater price to suppress the dissenting voices.
Henry, who was in charge of public relations, hurried over to explain. "Sir, this matter is highly unusual. The source of public opinion isn't domestic.
"It may be related to the recent international dispute. The first to slander the Panacea Association were