Opium Spreads further than China

Is it at all possible to have large numbers of people in the British colonies such as India or even the homeland to become addicted to opium? My idea was that it might spread from merchants bringing it to China. Since the opium was made in India it doesn't seem unlikely it could have spread out of control. Could a British competitor have done it, such as France? Or is it possible for individual groups in a neighboring country to bring them in to meet demand (aka US-Mexico situation). Perhaps people in french Indochina to bring drugs north to China and west to Burma and India. Regardless my goal is to have large numbers of natives, colonists, or both addicted to opium with a pod after they started shipping it into China.
 
Possible, although not likely. It seems like many of the opium dealers would try to stay unaddicted, themselves, even if they make a nice business selling it to others. Also, if British subjects started getting addicted in large numbers something would probably be done about it militarily.
 
A lot of people were addicted to opium, even in Europe. It wasn't just a drug used in China, it was a well known for it's medical properties and was widely used as a pain medication. King George IV was addicted to laudanum, for instance, which is tincture of opium. I don't think you can get any large scale addiction to opium, but even the west had it's own scares of addiction to opium derivatives: morphine, heroin, ect.

When morphine was first discovered and synthesized, it was put in many kinds of things, such as cough syrup, with a huge explosion over morphine addiction in both the UK and the United States in the early 20th century. Beyer, in turn, was able to first create heroin. They marketed it as an alternative that was less addictive than morphine and could treat morphine addiction. They actually created something more addictive.
 
Possible, although not likely. It seems like many of the opium dealers would try to stay unaddicted, themselves, even if they make a nice business selling it to others. Also, if British subjects started getting addicted in large numbers something would probably be done about it militarily.

Again, the late 19th and early 20th century saw a moral panic over morphine addiction, because it was so readily available and was put in all sorts of things. The reaction wasn't red coats smashing up bottles, but Parliament passing the Dangerous Drugs Act. Ditto with the US, the moral panic saw us pass the 1914 Narcotics Act.
 
Is it at all possible to have large numbers of people in the British colonies such as India or even the homeland to become addicted to opium? My idea was that it might spread from merchants bringing it to China. Since the opium was made in India it doesn't seem unlikely it could have spread out of control. Could a British competitor have done it, such as France? Or is it possible for individual groups in a neighboring country to bring them in to meet demand (aka US-Mexico situation). Perhaps people in french Indochina to bring drugs north to China and west to Burma and India. Regardless my goal is to have large numbers of natives, colonists, or both addicted to opium with a pod after they started shipping it into China.

Why do you desire to write such a dystpoic TL?
 

mowque

Banned
Opium was a common drug in Victorian times. Read Sherlock Holmes, even he uses it, and a few stories we touch on drug culture.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
Holmes self medicates with morphine, iirc. Syringe and all, just for the high.

Indeed. Speaking as someone who can relate, the use of opiates has a calming effect on the racing mind. Which is why he was so impossible to be around when he had no work, or drugs.
 
The Sign of the Four has Watson asking which Holmes is using today, cocaine or morphine, but the syringe is definately more strongly associated with the seven percent solution. (That's fairly weak, BTW.)
 
Is it at all possible to have large numbers of people in the British colonies such as India or even the homeland to become addicted to opium? My idea was that it might spread from merchants bringing it to China. Since the opium was made in India it doesn't seem unlikely it could have spread out of control. Could a British competitor have done it, such as France? Or is it possible for individual groups in a neighboring country to bring them in to meet demand (aka US-Mexico situation). Perhaps people in french Indochina to bring drugs north to China and west to Burma and India. Regardless my goal is to have large numbers of natives, colonists, or both addicted to opium with a pod after they started shipping it into China.


As pointed out, large numbers of people worldwide were opium users so your question really is how to get even higher levels of addiction. Opium was produced in many places, not just India. IIRC, most of the opium used in the UK was of Turkish origin. Persia also produced it as an export. Even North America produced some - Jefferson grew it in his garden at Montecello.

That actually might make a wicked POD.
Papaver somniferum is pretty easy to grow. Have a boll weevils (or a similar infestation) show up in the South in the early 19th C. Someone gets the bright idea of shoreing up the economy and cutting the Turks out of the opium trade by growing it at home.

The US, Britain, France, and possibly Russia could be excellent targets for having much larger populations of addicts.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
The Sign of the Four has Watson asking which Holmes is using today, cocaine or morphine, but the syringe is definately more strongly associated with the seven percent solution. (That's fairly weak, BTW.)

..it's only fairly weak if cocaine has been highly cut.
 
..it's only fairly weak if cocaine has been highly cut.

It's my understanding that currently available cocaine on thge street in the US ranges in quality from 15 to 50% cocaine hydrochloride. Compared to that, Holmes' 7% solution is quite weak.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
It's my understanding that currently available cocaine on thge street in the US ranges in quality from 15 to 50% cocaine hydrochloride. Compared to that, Holmes' 7% solution is quite weak.

I was under the assumption that Holmes' 7% was 7% by volume, not 7% being the potency.

Ie, 7% cocaine, 93% other(can't remember what he mixed it with).

If I'm wrong on this, do please say so.
 
I was under the assumption that Holmes' 7% was 7% by volume, not 7% being the potency.

Ie, 7% cocaine, 93% other(can't remember what he mixed it with).

If I'm wrong on this, do please say so.

Yes, by volume. How could 7% be a measure of potency?

I believe it was water.

Your comment that 7% is "only fairly weak if cocaine has been highly cut" was what I was taking issue with. If it's 7%, it's basically been even more highly cut than modern street coke of particularly low quality. 7% is far short of 15-50%.
 
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