Well I only know that Laudanum was very cheap, so it got consumated by all classes. And than of course that smoking opium made people drift into such dreams, that they were very creative...who knows how many of today treassured poems, musical pieces and plays are the result of drug abuse?
And also that many of the opium dreams were of erotic nature. So with the restrictions between men and women, maybe opium was especially for bachelors tempting, if they got that kind of pleassure out of it?
Also I read that morphine, thought that was a bit later, around 1860 when I remember the date correctly, became the drug of choise for ladies before going to the opera. They could not smoke and drink the way men did, so they carried little boxes with them, inside a seringe and morphine and injected it before or in the opera into their leg. That way they sort of could enjoy the music more. Those little boxes were very expensive, so only the richer people had them.
I am not quite sure how opium addicts behave...they might have fitted in better than todays heroine addicts in society and not drawing much attention, after all opium is not as strong as morphine or heroine (right?), so the physical/ mental decay might not be so visibel and if one was rich, one would have no problem to buy as much laudanum or whatever as one wanted, means the rich did not have to start a criminal career to get hold of their drugs and they could buy it legally. There even were opium-sweets one could buy (thought I don´t know if that was still in the regency era or first in the victorian era).
But the use of opium as a normal medicine against pain, cough, feeling sad and whatnot (combined with the use of alcohol to that time) truly pains a picture of a society in my mind, in that people lived most if not all of their lifes drunk and stoned. And that is a strange picture, especially if it has our dear Austen characters in it.
Hmm, though a fanfiction story around this topic would be interessting nontheless.
Jaimy
And also that many of the opium dreams were of erotic nature. So with the restrictions between men and women, maybe opium was especially for bachelors tempting, if they got that kind of pleassure out of it?
Also I read that morphine, thought that was a bit later, around 1860 when I remember the date correctly, became the drug of choise for ladies before going to the opera. They could not smoke and drink the way men did, so they carried little boxes with them, inside a seringe and morphine and injected it before or in the opera into their leg. That way they sort of could enjoy the music more. Those little boxes were very expensive, so only the richer people had them.
I am not quite sure how opium addicts behave...they might have fitted in better than todays heroine addicts in society and not drawing much attention, after all opium is not as strong as morphine or heroine (right?), so the physical/ mental decay might not be so visibel and if one was rich, one would have no problem to buy as much laudanum or whatever as one wanted, means the rich did not have to start a criminal career to get hold of their drugs and they could buy it legally. There even were opium-sweets one could buy (thought I don´t know if that was still in the regency era or first in the victorian era).
But the use of opium as a normal medicine against pain, cough, feeling sad and whatnot (combined with the use of alcohol to that time) truly pains a picture of a society in my mind, in that people lived most if not all of their lifes drunk and stoned. And that is a strange picture, especially if it has our dear Austen characters in it.
Hmm, though a fanfiction story around this topic would be interessting nontheless.
Jaimy