Question: The first law against opium in the United States, enacted in 1875, was mainly a result of —

Explanation: In the lectures and readings, the 1875 San Francisco opium-den ordinance is explained not as a response to general drug use, but as a racially charged measure targeting Chinese immigrant communities. Opium smoking in dens was strongly associated in public discourse with Chinese male laborers, who were portrayed as morally corrupting, sexually dangerous, and socially threatening. The law functioned as a tool of racial control and exclusion, rather than a neutral public-health intervention. (Readings: Wright; Breen). Quote: “Anti-opium legislation was driven less by concern over the drug itself than by anxiety over Chinese immigrant laborers.” (Wright, Not Just a ‘Place for the Smoking of Opium’).