Laudanum
I’m researching book one in my Wintergale Orchard series, titled
When Love Wins. In this story, the hero is addicted to laudanum. Laudanum is an opium tincture made with 10%
opium and 90% alcohol and then flavored with cinnamon or saffron. The tincture is reddish-brown in color and
has a bitter taste. Laudanum is known as
a “whole opium” since it historically contained all the opium alkaloids, this
includes morphine and codeine. (A Swiss-German alchemist found that alkaloids
are more soluble in alcohol than water.) Obviously this was a potent
medicine.
Opium was known in ancient Mesopotamia five thousand years
ago and its medicinal properties were recorded on cuneiform tablets. So opium has been here a while. (I shall keep this article focused on England’s
usage of laudanum and save the East India Company, China, and the Opium Wars
for other articles).
During the Regency Period, opium was used to aid mild
pain. According to The Writer’s Guide to Everyday in the 1800’s by Marc McCutcheon, “In
1868, it is estimated that 100,000 people from all stations of life were
addicted to the drug, which was sold openly in drugstores in pill form or as
laudanum.”
Since laudanum was cheaper than beer or wine, it was affordable
for even the lowest paid workers.
Nevertheless, it was purchased by all classes in society. Laudanum was prescribed for many diseases as
well as being used as a sleeping aid. Although the addictive qualities of opium
were known at the time, it was still the ingredient added to most medicines of
the day. This meant laudanum was
prescribed for ailments from colds to meningitis to cardiac disease, in adults
and children.
Due to laudanum’s potency, accidental or deliberate overdose
could occur in a single dose (2-3 teaspoons).
Suicide by laudanum was not uncommon in the mid-19th
century. Side effects with laudanum are
similar to those of morphine and include euphoria, dysphoria, sedation,
respiratory depression, as well a psychological dependency, and the list goes
on… People who became addicted to the
tincture were often referred to as “Opium Eaters”. This was to differentiate themselves from the
opium smokers. Thomas De Quincey wrote
an autobiographical account of his laudanum addiction and its effect on his
life in his book, Confessions of an
English Opium-Eater, which was published in 1822.
In 1919 England, the production and export of opium was
prohibited and a law in 1928 banned its use.
Some notable laudanum users were John Keats, Charles Dickens, Lord
Byron, Edgar Allen Poe, William Taylor Coleridge, and many more. The drug was seemingly popular as it was
readily available. During the Victorian
Period laudanum was even recommended for women to relieve menstrual cramps.
When looking at the old bottles of laudanum, I cannot help
but wonder why anyone would wish to drink from a bottle that is clearly labeled
poison with a skull and crossbones. But
throughout history, human beings seem to have a compulsion to enhance their
perceptions and alter their moods. Unfortunately,
addictions can also ruin and cost lives.
Currently, laudanum is considered a Schedule II drug and
recognized as an addictive substance.
Its use is strictly regulated and controlled throughout most of the
world. Laudanum is still prescribed in
the US and the U.K. and is used to alleviate pain, treat diarrhea, and ease
withdrawal symptoms from people addicted to heroin or other opiates. It should be mentioned that the laudanum of
today differs from the laudanum of the 1800’s.
Due to current drug processing, laudanum today is not a tincture of
opium, but rather a tincture of morphine.
A special thank you to All About Heaven, http://www.allaboutheaven.org and The Heroin
of the 19th Century, Frank Sanello
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