I was reading an article about the opiod crisis the other day, and something struck me as curious, so I did a little digging. I don't know very much about the Opium wars or the current crisis. But when I looked into the genetics there were some interesting results. Basically, there are some genes that can cause you to be a 'non-responder' to morphine / opiod medications. The people with the mutations will require a lot more of the medication for it to be an effective pain reliever because they don't have the right enzymes. Apparently, the mu receptor A118G mutation (to AG or GG instead of AA) is associated with increased risk of addictions and increased neuroticism. The frequency of the A118G polymorphism is highly variable ranging from 2% in Afro-Americans, 8–30% in Caucasians and 50% in Asian populations. 10-16% of Ethiopians and Saudi Arabians (Middle Easterners?) are ultra metabolizers, meaning that it is out of their system very quickly - I'm not sure how this would affect addiction.

This makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure if the Sassoons somehow knew or realized that the Chinese were particularly susceptible to opiod addiction. But it was an ideal choice for the drug war.

And apparently the current opiod crisis has really been impacting caucasians. This mutation has been known for years..... So if some group of people wanted to target specific ethnic groups, this seems to be an effective way.

These genetics also affect the metabolism of other drugs from antidepressants to warfarin. CYP-2D6 is another one.

I don't have the time to look at all the genes that affect opiod metabolism, but if someone was interested it would probably indicate which ethnic groups will be hardest hit. I suspect if you add up the different gene mutations, it will be Asians and Caucasians.

However, it appears that Asians have a cultural resistance to opioids and other drugs and a more communal society, so I think that would decrease the risk of addiction for Asians.

The increased risk of neuroticism is also interesting.