Within an imperialism-centred paradigm, A History of Intoxi­cation: Opium in Assam, 1800-1959 is an attempt to unearth a critical relationship between a crucial lever of colonialism in Asia and a frontier province filled with tea gardens and on a route?laden?with?opium?poppy. The present volume is premised on explaining several queries that revolve around the emerging pattern of consumption of opium in colonial Assam and the creation of drug-dependency in a social context.