Opium Addiction In London In The Late 19th Century

In today’s day and age, drug addiction is one of the most serious societal problems, however, this issue has been prevalent for centuries. In particular, Opium ravaged different parts of the world with wars and addiction. The Long 19th Century saw the rise of Opium use in the vibrant city of London. The establishment of Chinese-run Opium dens and the growing Opium addiction in London caused a major societal concern about its effects on London society.

Initially, opium addiction was prevalent in China, where the poppy seeds were first cultivated. However, in the 18th century, England was the main supplier of the drug to China after cultivating it in India. Tensions in the mid-19th century between England and China arose due to the import of

One of the earliest descriptions of an “Opium den” was the experience of the Prince of Wales and who published it in the London Society newspaper in 1968. He had visited a “den” in New Court which was run by Chi Ki, a Chinese man with an English wife, who mainly serviced Chinese sailors. It was generally described as being very shabby and ramshackle. A varying description of the so-called “opium dens” as it is “clean and tidy” and the Chinese people he met "pleasant-looking, good-tempered lot”(Berridge, East End Opium Dens and Narcotic use in Britain 5). The most famous description however was by Charles Dickens in one of his Sherlock Holmes stories “The Man with The Twisted Lip”. In this story, Sherlock disguises himself as an opium addict and is exploring an opium den. Dickens portrays the den with a melancholic mysterious atmosphere, describing the people there as “lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back, and chins pointing upward”. These portrayals of opium dens were highly exaggerated and created a false perception in London society of what was just gathering rooms for Chinese seamen to unwind and

There was a perception that working-class people used opium recreationally when they were not able to afford alcohol. However, a lot of the working class relied on opium to get them through their physically demanding jobs and as an affordable medication for ailments. For the most part, they used it out for necessity, not pleasure. There were concerns about the middle class being affected by both working-class opium consumption and Chinese “opium dens” smokers. An article in the Chambers Journal in 1845 warned that opium use amongst the working class had an “alarming increase, with a tendency upwards to the middle classes."(Berridge, Victorian Opium Eating: Responses to Opiate Use in Nineteenth-Century England 448). Similarly, Rev. George Piercy, an East End missionary, pointing to its use in America, criticized the emerging “opium dens” as “a new habit, prolific of evil, springing up amongst us” (Berridge, East End Opium Dens and Narcotic use in Britain 15). Working-class mothers were also blamed for giving their infants Laundum based medicine to stop them from crying, blaming the infant deaths on opium. However, most of those deaths were due to bad hygiene and malnutrition inevitably present in London’s working-class communities(Berridge, Victorian Opium Eating: Responses to Opiate Use in Nineteenth-Century England 450). Even though opium-based medicine was also used