The drug Question

Alien · 23-04-2009, 19:15

Drugs and their origins within Western culture.

I blame the Victorians...... (Their always a good scapegoat)

Dave650 · 23-04-2009, 19:16

Wonder how many things i'll manage to blame on the victorians tomorrow.

melthebell · 23-04-2009, 19:16

tch the mods can create their own threads you know and move parts of

Halibut · 23-04-2009, 19:17

Queen Victoria was fond of cannabis as treatment for period pains, bless her.
Didn't seem to make her particularly amused though.
And wasn't it the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes who was addicted to cocaine?

Alien · 23-04-2009, 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

tch the mods can create their own threads you know and move parts of

Their a busy lot.

Soz mel...

melthebell · 23-04-2009, 19:26

now we have two threads about it

ill be getting flashbacks next

lol

halibut wasnt it opium sherlock was on? and maybe conan doyle too, its what made me mention opium int other thread

Alien · 23-04-2009, 19:34

I think maybe our trade routes within the China seas may have been the beginning of drug trafficking on a major scale.

melthebell · 23-04-2009, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien

I think maybe our trade routes within the China seas may have been the beginning of drug trafficking on a major scale.

ahh, so its the fault of pirates and early explorers etc?

Alien · 23-04-2009, 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

ahh, so its the fault of pirates and early explorers etc?

More likely the early explorers. Opium and cocaine within certain cultures are used, and as readily available as flour is here. I would think they didn't know what all the fuss was about.

Phanerothyme · 23-04-2009, 20:37

The drive to change consciousness is not a cultural phenomenon, but a biological one.

Animals like to get caned.

We are animals.

We like to get caned.

People get rich exploiting each others biological drives.

Look how much stuff is sold using suggestions of sex, and on a more banal note, how much money is made from food retailing.

What happens is that an entrepreneur discovers there is a ready market for a consciousness raising substance, and they make money supplying the demand. But to "grow" the business, some substances work better than others - the substances that are strongly addictive (alcohol, cocaine, caffeine, heroin, nicotine).

The result? Over time (the last few thousand years) primitive market forces have favoured addictive consciousness altering substances, and worked against non-addictive ones. Make an addictive substance illegal and the profits will soar, further skewing the bias towards substances that reinforce habitual use.

Phanerothyme · 23-04-2009, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

now we have two threads about it

ill be getting flashbacks next

lol

halibut wasnt it opium sherlock was on? and maybe conan doyle too, its what made me mention opium int other thread

Nope, in a few of the books Holmes injects himself with cocaine in solution - to ponder a problem of some kind. Watson disapproved apparently.

I've not read them myself though, worth checking.

melthebell · 23-04-2009, 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phanerothyme

Nope, in a few of the books Holmes injects himself with cocaine in solution - to ponder a problem of some kind. Watson disapproved apparently.

I've not read them myself though, worth checking.

hm sure ive read opium mentioned

19SazzaLou91 · 23-04-2009, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

hm sure ive read opium mentioned

Nothing to do with the topic, but muahahaha, I is stalking yhoo!!! Watch out. xD

Alastair · 07-11-2009, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

hm sure ive read opium mentioned

Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.

"It is cocaine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?"

Hecate · 07-11-2009, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by melthebell

hm sure ive read opium mentioned

Holmes takes up the opium pipe briefly in The Man With the Twisted Lip, as part of a disguise:

Quote:

As I passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look back at me". The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes...

"I suppose, Watson", said he, that you imagine that I have added opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical views".

RIZRAT · 07-11-2009, 15:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hecate

Holmes takes up the opium pipe briefly in The Man With the Twisted Lip, as part of a disguise:

Take drugs and end up getting touched up whilst wearing a skirt ?? No fear....

Hows the mushrooms this year fishboy ??