Pick Your Poison

Fig. 874—Papaver somniferum in Dennis Emerson Jackson, Experimental Pharmacology and Materia Medica, 1939

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

BOTANICAL, Papaver somniferum

As pharmacology professor Dr. Dennis Jackson noted in his guide to medicinal drugs, the pain-relieving properties of opium had been known for centuries. In America, the drug was first used for the treatment of sleeplessness and illnesses such as coughs, smallpox, cholera, malaria, syphilis, dysentery, and tuberculosis.

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Coryza Bell morphine tablets, Hollings-Smith Co.

Courtesy National Museum of American History

CURATIVE, Pain Relief

Morphine was isolated from opium in 1805, and American physicians began widely prescribing the drug in the 1860s, distributing pills and powders among Civil War soldiers and veterans, and injecting middle and upper-class women for the treatment of so-called “female troubles” such as nervousness and lethargy.

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Physician’s hypodermic needle kit with morphine, Parke, Davis & Co., 1908–1918

Courtesy National Museum of American History

CURATIVE, Pain Relief

Morphine was isolated from opium in 1805, and American physicians began widely prescribing the drug in the 1860s, distributing pills and powders among Civil War soldiers and veterans, and injecting middle and upper-class women for the treatment of so-called “female troubles” such as nervousness and lethargy.

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Advertisement for a children's remedy containing morphine for the pain of teething, ca. 1880

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

MARKET, “Miracle Cure”

By 1905, Americans were spending millions of dollars on patent medicines that promised miracle cures. The often secret ingredients of those supposed remedies included cocaine, opium, and alcohol. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup contained morphine and was marketed to mothers to help soothe their babies discomfort when teething.

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Opium smoking party, 1882

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

CONSUMER, Smoking Dens

In the 1870s, Chinese immigrants introduced opium smoking to American cities, and the habit spread to the urban underclass. Unlike consumers of patent medicines, who could indulge discreetly in private, smokers relied on opium dens for the purchase and pipe-smoking of warmed opium pills.

Winslow Homer, “The Chinese in New York—scene in a Baxter Street Club-House,” Harpers Weekly, 1874

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

CONSUMER, Smoking Dens

In the 1870s, Chinese immigrants introduced opium smoking to American cities, and the habit spread to the urban underclass. Unlike consumers of patent medicines, who could indulge discreetly in private, smokers relied on opium dens for the purchase and pipe-smoking of warmed opium pills.

J. W. Alexander, “American Opium-Smokers: Interior of a New York Opium Den,” Harpers Weekly, 1881

Courtesy National Library of Medicine

CONSUMER, Smoking Dens

In the 1870s, Chinese immigrants introduced opium smoking to American cities, and the habit spread to the urban underclass. Unlike consumers of patent medicines, who could indulge discreetly in private, smokers relied on opium dens for the purchase and pipe-smoking of warmed opium pills.

Opium lamp, pipe and bowl for smoking opium, the technique preferred by Chinese immigrants, and a scale used for weighing the drug

Courtesy National Museum of American History

CONSUMER, Smoking Dens

In the 1870s, Chinese immigrants introduced opium smoking to American cities, and the habit spread to the urban underclass. Unlike consumers of patent medicines, who could indulge discreetly in private, smokers relied on opium dens for the purchase and pipe-smoking of warmed opium pills.

Advertisement for King of the Opium Ring, showing raid on an “opium den,” 1899

Courtesy Library of Congress

PROHIBITIVE, Chinatown Raid

As panic about the drug’s effects rose, reformers argued that opium addiction was rapidly increasing. Yet, usage had begun to decline at the turn of the 20th century. Reformers singled out the Chinese and lobbied for new laws and police raids to crack down on “opium dens” in Chinatown districts.

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