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 "e;live out their dreams but dream out their lives."e; 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.