ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the supplement existing accounts of the nineteenth century responses to unregulated opium use by approaching this development from a perspective derived from the work of the philosopher, Michel Foucault. It examines the discursive elements which formed the conditions in which it was possible for opiate addiction to spoken of as a precise object during the late 19th century and be rendered susceptible to particular types of power and control. Opium has been consumed wholesale, largely with equanimity, in Britain for centuries. Berridge has observed that in England during the first half of the nineteenth century opium dependence was popularly known as a ‘habit’ rather than ‘addiction’. The elevation of unrestricted opium use as a public health issue was resultant on developing class tensions. In 1881 a public meeting to discuss the opium trade was organised by the Suppression of the Opium Trade. It was held in London’s Mansion House and chaired by the Lord Major.
