That's exactly why you Brits fought the Opium Wars, to keep your little ol' ladies supplied with opium to put in their afternoon tea.
In fact Opium, Heroin, and Cocaine were all legal at the turn of the last century. You could purchase a really nice syringe with two needles and two hits of heroin from the Sears catalogue for $3.00 at the turn of the last century.
Dr. Asa Candler - pharmacist, and heroin addict, believed that cocaine would counteract heroin withdrawal, so he created a "tonic" that contained, among other things cocaine, caffene, carbonic acid, caramel, etc. He later sold this tonic to a Mr. Pemberton, and the rest is history, and no matter how much the Coca-Cola Company protests that its namesake drink never contained cocaine, they lie like a rug. It did. But it has no effect on heroin addiction or withdrawal.
The dark side of none of these powerful drugs was known at the time of their popular, and legal use at the turn of the last century. We in the west had no prior knowledge of these plant alkaloids and it required time and experience with them to discover that they were destroyers. My own great grandmother died a laudanum addict soon after the turn of the last century. That was a mixture of opium in alcohol and while the percentage varied, it packed a powerful wallop. Y'all see those movies several years ago about Wyatt Earp? Remember his weepy wife? Laudanum addict. Depressed all the time without her opium. Live and learn.
I suffer from insomnia from time to time and about a month ago at one in the morning, PBS put on an hour long presentation about these three drugs and their history in American and British societies. It was fascinating to say the least. So it was PBS that let the cat out of the bag about Coca-Cola.
