The Use of Opium by Victorian Britons, French, and Americans

Although some of the most popular drugs used today in the international drug trade, like cocaine and heroin, are relatively new inventions, the drug trade itself is nothing new. Older drugs, like opium, have been traded legally and illegally for centuries and have been used for recreational purposes for over five hundred years. Indeed, until 1900, few countries besides China prohibited drugs like opium. Until that time, they were used by many in mainstream society.

Opium has been used as a pain reliever for several thousand years and was produced by the Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians, and many other ancient civilizations. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Islamic world continued to use it and eventually reintroduced it to the West around 1300 AD. Perhaps because it had come to them from the Arabs, however, it took Europeans over two hundred years to fully accept opium as a medicinal drug again. By 1527, Western doctors had begun using an opium tincture called laudanum. Laudanum was used widely until the late 19th century for all sorts of ailments including pain, sleeplessness, nervousness, and diarrhea.

Recreational use of opium has always connected to the Chinese who were the first to use the drug recreationally in the late 15th century. For many years, only the elite could afford to indulge in it because of its great expense. As the price dropped, however, more and more people began using it. By the 18th century, many common people could afford to smoke it mixed with tobacco and later in its pure form. In 1729, the Chinese emperor saw opium as such a blight that he banned it in his kingdom. Despite the ban on opium and despite fighting two wars with Britain to keep British opium from India out of Chinese ports, Chinese demand for opium soared during the 19th century. By 1906, China consumed 39,000 of the 41,000 tons of opium produced that year.