Pick Your Poison

Tobacco, its use and abuse

Burdell calls tobacco, alcohol, and opium consumption “degeneracy,” juxtaposing it against use of other plants in healthy contexts and linking drug use to other immoral behaviors, like thievery and murder. He suggests that the offspring of drug users may be predisposed to taking up their parents’ bad habits. By the mid-19th century, tobacco, alcohol, and opium were used widely in medicines and for recreations. Burdell and his contemporaries sought to discourage drug use by pointing out its negative impacts.