Benacian persecution of drug-users
The Benacian persecution of drug-users began in the final month of 1707 AN as the High Presidium of the Benacian Union sought to curb the growth of liberality and vice amongst the urban populace of its territories in the aftermath of the Second Elwynnese Civil War. Especially there was concern that the growth in narcotic consumption, and the illicit criminal activities associated with it, were opening public officials up to the inducements of corruption, whilst mass addiction was feared for its potential impact on the efforts to create a Harmonious Society and to complete reconstruction in any semblance of a timely or efficient manner. Moreover, for a trade to persist in criminal and unregulated hands would deprive the Union-State of a vital source of revenue at a critical juncture.
In late 1707 AN the monopoly on the sale and production of narcotic substances, long established by custom and usage as being confined to the Paradise Districts of the Benacian Union, was formally conferred upon the Guild of the Lotus by the High Presidium of the Benacian Union. The manufacturing of these substances was to be strictly controlled, with the penalty for either the sale or consumption of a narcotic substance outside of a paradise district being death or penal servitude for the individual, and penal servitude for the next of kin of the condemned as well. Outside of the paradise districts the new repression was to be enforced by the Benacian Censorate assisted by the Worshipful Guild of the Sacred Carnifices and the Corps of the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels. Within the paradise districts it would be the local chapters of the Guild of the Lotus that would enjoy the obligation to exterminate competitors. As the lucrative privileges the guild enjoyed were to be bound up in its enforcement of this new edict, the incentive was there for them to be rigorous in their own self-policing, especially as the Church of Elwynn had still not forgiven the guild for what it termed as the usurpation of its historic control of the Flower Streets of Elluenuueq.
Forty public officials of tribunal rank were condemned by the Benacian Censorate on 6.XV.1707 for neglect of duty owing to habitual intoxication and narcotic dependency, were bound with chains and weights before being pressed into the mire at Mindon Araxion. The mass drowning at the filthy shoreline of the Blue Elwynn was recorded, and the viewing of the execution was subsequently made compulsory viewing for all officers of the BUDF, the civil executives of the realms, and the regional and national sector cadres of the Nationalist & Humanist Party in the Benacian Union. The wives and children of the condemned were subsequently declared to be protected persons and transferred to the Benacian Labour Reserve.
On the following day, a gentleman of the Honourable Company, of Shirerithian nationality, known to be involved in the supply of chemical precursors to synthetic drug manufacturers in Alalehzamin, was executed at Ardashirshahr by being crushed under heavy weights. The execution was conducted by the Worshipful Guild of the Sacred Carnifices after objections to the punishment by the Benacian Directorate of the ESB Group were withdrawn.
Following the initial flurry of theatrical executions to mark the commencement of the newly severe policy, the manufacturers, suppliers, and consumers of illicit substances were to be transferred wholesale into the Benacian Labour Reserve along with their families, with the majority of these condemned to penal servitude at the Svordson Reform Settlement on Leng.
