Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
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America's first war on drugs: Rare photos show young women and suavely dressed men in zombie state that sparked panic about the opium trade
Reclining on bunk beds while sucking on opium pipes, these haunting photos provide a rare glimpse into life in America's 19th century opium dens that prompted the country's first crackdown on drugs.
Established by the Chinese and arriving in the US via ships, the first opium dens sprung up in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1840s and 1850s, and were soon being used by people from all walks of society.
The opium rush was at its most prevalent during the 1880s and 1890s, which coincided with the rise of the temperance movement.
Its popularity eventually resulted in a string of legislative measures being introduced to try and stamp out the addictive craze, including the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and Smoking Opium Exclusion Act in 1909.
Chinese immigrants came to the United States in the early/mid 19th century to work for railroads and the Gold Rush. They brought the habit of opium smoking, and the idea of opium dens, with them.
In 1840 New Englanders also brought 24,000 pounds of opium into the US. This caught the attention of US Customs which promptly put a duty fee on the import.
The opium dens provided bunks and rugs to relax on while smoking, as well as equipment if a person did not possess their own.
Opium could be purchased in five-ounce tins for around eight dollars and was typically bought at Chinese merchants' shops.
The drug was easily accessible in San Francisco and California even when they outlawed the substance in 1878 and 1881, respectively.
By that time, it had also spread east into New York, Chicago, St Louis and New Orleans and the height of its popularity was at the end of the 19th century.
Opium dens were now increasingly frequented by men and women from the middle and upper classes.
An undercover reporter for 'The Examiner' in 1882 described how she witnessed 'two white girls, neither of whom were over 17 years of age' dressed as though they were going to 'a Sunday picnic' in an opium den in San Francisco.
To crack down on the addictive habit, the federal government under Theodore Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which required any 'dangerous' or 'addictive' drugs to appear on the label of products.
Three years later, the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act banned the importation of opiates used purely for recreational use.
However it's unclear if this act was part of anti-Chinese backlash as it was thought Chinese men were luring white women to have sex in the opium dens.
That act was followed by the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914, which regulated and taxed the production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products.
Authorities believed the opium dens were problems associated with the Chinese.
As late as the 1950s, drug control officials pinned the blame on China for the illicit importation of other opiates (such as heroin) into the US.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4646428/Inside-America-s-opium-dens.html
Reclining on bunk beds while sucking on opium pipes, these haunting photos provide a rare glimpse into life in America's 19th century opium dens that prompted the country's first crackdown on drugs.
Established by the Chinese and arriving in the US via ships, the first opium dens sprung up in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1840s and 1850s, and were soon being used by people from all walks of society.
The opium rush was at its most prevalent during the 1880s and 1890s, which coincided with the rise of the temperance movement.
Its popularity eventually resulted in a string of legislative measures being introduced to try and stamp out the addictive craze, including the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and Smoking Opium Exclusion Act in 1909.
Chinese immigrants came to the United States in the early/mid 19th century to work for railroads and the Gold Rush. They brought the habit of opium smoking, and the idea of opium dens, with them.
In 1840 New Englanders also brought 24,000 pounds of opium into the US. This caught the attention of US Customs which promptly put a duty fee on the import.
The opium dens provided bunks and rugs to relax on while smoking, as well as equipment if a person did not possess their own.
Opium could be purchased in five-ounce tins for around eight dollars and was typically bought at Chinese merchants' shops.
The drug was easily accessible in San Francisco and California even when they outlawed the substance in 1878 and 1881, respectively.
By that time, it had also spread east into New York, Chicago, St Louis and New Orleans and the height of its popularity was at the end of the 19th century.
Opium dens were now increasingly frequented by men and women from the middle and upper classes.
An undercover reporter for 'The Examiner' in 1882 described how she witnessed 'two white girls, neither of whom were over 17 years of age' dressed as though they were going to 'a Sunday picnic' in an opium den in San Francisco.
To crack down on the addictive habit, the federal government under Theodore Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which required any 'dangerous' or 'addictive' drugs to appear on the label of products.
Three years later, the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act banned the importation of opiates used purely for recreational use.
However it's unclear if this act was part of anti-Chinese backlash as it was thought Chinese men were luring white women to have sex in the opium dens.
That act was followed by the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914, which regulated and taxed the production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products.
Authorities believed the opium dens were problems associated with the Chinese.
As late as the 1950s, drug control officials pinned the blame on China for the illicit importation of other opiates (such as heroin) into the US.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4646428/Inside-America-s-opium-dens.html
