Drug Awareness: Rare And Haunting Photos Show Drug-Addled Men And Women Lying In The Opium Dens Of 19th Century America

Two women and a man smoking in an opium den in Chinatown, San Francisco, circa 1890.

Reclining on bunk beds while sucking on opium pipes, these haunting photos provide a rare glimpse into life in America’s 19th century opium dens that prompted the country’s first crackdown on drugs.

Established by the Chinese and arriving in the US via ships, the first opium dens sprung up in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1840s and 1850s, and were soon being used by people from all walks of society. Continue reading »