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This essay was written for the Social Control class I took at Acadia University.
Opium: the Dead Inspirational Drug Opium used to be considered "the" drug of the 19th century. Today, it's been kicked so far out of general popularity that it's not even listed by itself in drug offence statistics. People of all classes used to go to opium dens where they could smoke, eat or drink opium to their hearts (and money's) content. Now, one almost never hears of contemporary opium addicts. Opium use is dead in our society. Documents found indicate that opium was being used as far back as the time of the ancient Greeks. It had spread over much of Europe and Asia by the 1800's, and people used it so much that when the supply of opium between England and China was threatened, there was a war. This was the Opium War, which lasted from 1834 to 1842. Europe was addicted to opium. Opium is very addictive. It's children, morpine and heroin, are even more so. Morphine and heroin (named for it's "heroic" ability to cure morphine addictions) didn't appear until the end on the 1800's. Opium has many deterimental side effects, besides addiction. These side effects include heart disease, stomach disorders, inflamation of the mouth, and bladder problems. These, along with the 10 to 20 grams of (expensive) opium a day that some addicts required, made people want to stop taking this drug. The addiction prevented them from giving it up. Morphine was created as a cure for opium addiction. It worked, but now the former opium addicts became morphine addicts. Likewise, heroin was created to cure morphine addiction, and heroin addicts replaced morphine addicts. This could be one reason that opium is not in wide use today, but there are other pieces of this set. Cocaine was available when morphine came to replace opium. Some may have even used cocaine to break their opium or morphine addictions. Cocaine is also addictive. Both cocaine and morphine ended up being part of hospital medicine (my own grandmother recieved cocaine from the hospital as part of easing her cancer treatment). However, statistics show that cocaine offences outnumber heroin offences by an approximate ratio of nine to one. Opium was replaced by heroin, but cocaine seems to be more prevailant than both opium and it's stronger versions. There are other drugs that outdo even cocaine and the once-popular opium. Cannabis, for example, has a rate of 97, compared to cocaine's 19 and heroin's paltry 2. Cannabis is very popular today. In some ways, cannabis is the new opium, only better. Whereas opium has many health risks and is addictive, cannabis is only stupifying . Is this the reason why it is so popular, whereas opium is forgotten? Possibly, but there are other drugs that take over opium's old role better than cannabis, which doesn't have the visionary or romantic association opium had. The opium user was seen as the artist, the writer, the poet, who claimed that it influenced their work for the better. Several writers of the 1800's, such as Lewis Carroll, were reported as having written under the influence of opium. Opium was a romantic drug, a drug that inspired these great intellectuals. Contemporary books, poems and visual art have been created while under the influence of newer visionary drugs. LSD, mescaline, and other hallucinagins now fill the role of inspirational drugs for artists and writers. Neither LSD or mescaline are physically addicive, to my knowledge. LSD takes vitamin C from your body and is potentially harmful to your psyche, and I haven't heard of lasting deterimental side effects from mescaline usage, so one would think they would rise to the status opium once had. Opium appears to have been replaced by new hallucinagins. It has been replaced in addicts by heroin, but heroin does not have the right effects or association to take over opium's old role in society. Opium was replaced because the side effects would eventually outweigh the visionary worth. Cannabis is widespread, but it's effects don't measure up to the inspiration that opium produced. Opium's strongest form, heroin, also doesn't have the romantic or inspirational image opium had. The newer hallucinagins almost have that image, but are not used in the context or scale opium was. Opium is dead in general society, and the space has not been adequately filled, perhaps because our society does not want to be inspired. Opium is not only dead in our society, but is dead by our society. written June 17/96, revised Oct 1/97, Feb 16/98 |
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