Complex sentence: King Rama III had previously had 9,000 copies printed of a "Decree Forbidding Opium Smoking and Sale" in 1839; otherwise, royal scribes had been compiling decrees by hand.
Split into simpler sentences: King Rama III had previously had 9,000 copies printed of a "Decree Forbidding Opium Smoking and Sale" in 1839. Previously, royal scribes had been compiling decrees by hand.