A dope of sweet blown, or the first opium dens of the USA
Photo © bigpicture.ru
The first opium dens in the United States began to grow in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1840s and 1850s. Soon they "captured" all segments of the population. The peak of use came in the 80-90s of the XIX century, which coincided with the formation of the sober movement.
The cost of a 5-ounce capacity of opium (about 140 grams) was 8 dollars. Such a purchase could be made mainly in Chinese shops. In the dens, customers were provided with beds and carpets for relaxing under the opium. They could fully relax and enjoy the sweet dope.
Despite the fact that people of both sexes were addicted to smoking opium, women were provided with worse quality pipes. The Chinese thought that after the woman smoked, the pipe would spoil. Moreover, this separation did not depend on the social class of the smoker.
In 1882, in his article, the reporter of the newspaper The Examiner wrote that he saw in the opium den of San Francisco "two girls no older than 17 years old, dressed as if for a Sunday picnic."
Gradually, the easy availability of opium spread far to the east of the country. From San Francisco and California, she "crawled" to New York, Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans.
To break the habit, the government of Theodore Roosevelt adopted in 1906 a law on the good quality of food and medicine. He ordered to prescribe on the packaging of the product, which contains dangerous and addictive substances.
In 1914, the Harrison Drug Act, according to which anyone who manufactured, mixed, imported, sold, distributed any form of cocaine and opiates, was obliged to pay tax.
By the beginning of World War II, the opium dens in the United States had almost disappeared. Although the exact number of illegal establishments that offered to smoke opium, could not name anyone.
