Opium Comes to America

As a result of this new economic activity, America experienced an unprecedented wave of immigration. Many of these immigrants were impoverished and came to America looking for jobs and the promise of a better life. For many poor workers in China, America appeared to be a promised land of opportunity. California became home to masses of Chinese immigrants. The myth of America as a 

Chinese immigrants were often blamed for bringing opium to America, but opium had been present in America for some time, both in its raw form and in countless medical concoctions created by patent medicine makers, the unlicensed pharmacists of the day. Nevertheless, the wave of Chinese immigrants, who had used opium in China or picked up the habit in America, enhanced the demand for opium and thus expanded the market. 

In response to the intense rigors, harsh conditions, and extensive physical strain of working in the railroad and gold mine industries, many of the immigrants sought the pain-relief and euphoria opium provided. The absence of Chinese women in California resulted in a large male population that often turned to opium as solace for the lack of romantic relations. 

In the 1800s, there were no large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturers, no carefully tested safe and effective medicines, and no regulatory body (such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to make sure that medicines were safe to use and actually worked. Instead, there were the patent medicine makers, which were unregulated small-time drug manufacturers. The profession of patent medicine making, often referred to as 

Many of these nostrums were advertised to cure a myriad of diseases, but probably failed to cure any. However, they certainly created countless alcoholics and morphine addicts. By the early 1900s, concern regarding patent medicines was on the rise and the medical profession soon formally discredited their production. These measures unfortunately came too late to curb the infiltration of opium into American society. 

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