John Thornton
John Thornton wrote:
> Marx was not claiming opium was very bad as James claims. I think James
> is projecting his opium fears onto Marx.
> Marx was not considering opium as a recreational drug primarily either.
> I know more about opium than Marx but his claim always seemed to me to
> be more consistent with the idea that opium did much good and much harm.
> Neither exclusively and neither more than the other. Opium was a mixed
> bag in his days. It worked wonders relieving pain and was considered a
> miracle substance but it was beginning to be understood as capable of
> causing pain as well.
>
> John Thornton
>
>
>
> Chris Doss wrote:
>
>> I always thought he had in mind not the Opium Wars,
>> but the use of opiates as anesthesia and as a
>> high-society recreational drug (or did that not start
>> until later?).
>>
>> --- James Heartfield <Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> the 'opium of the people'. Marx was no 'sixties
>>> druggy. He thought opium was
>>> very bad indeed. The image he had in mind was not Wm
>>> Burroughs but the opium
>>> that the British Empire had used to get the Chinese
>>> addicted, so they would
>>> be forced to give up their tea.