Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend [Paperback]

Th. Metzger (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Much of the vilification of drugs and drug users, including hostility toward heroin and the specter of the "dope fiend," started out as lurid media fodder, Metzger says, created to excite ordinary fears and respond to ordinary resentments. Metzger traces the development of heroin--" God's Own Medicine," the first chapter title calls it--from its earliest precursor on North American shores, the opium component of the Pilgrims' drug of choice, laudanum. He details its odyssey from legal miracle drug to national scourge, touching, as he proceeds, on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Prohibition phenomenon, and the rise to national prominence of an "American Cult of Purity." Metzger's purpose is not to advocate heroin use but to examine the drug's history and the attendant misconceptions about it. Informative reading for collections open to more than a paranoid perspective on narcotics. Mike Tribby

From the Back Cover

Ah, heroin! The scourge of American civilization! The enslaver and despoiler of all that is good and pure! And heroin's ambassador, the drug addict: a craven, diseased, desperate minion of Morpheus who wallows in a cesspool of decadence and habitual debasement! Yes, fearsomely addictive heroin and the deranged dope fiends who inject it have somehow been merged in the American public's mind to form a two-pronged skewer that diabolically rips away at society's most vital organs, leaving a trail of despair and death in its obscene wake.

At least, that's the way it's portrayed today. But, as author Th. Metzger posits in The Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend, it wasn't always so. Like everything else, heroin has a history, and so does the societal archetype of the heroin addict.

Metzger traces heroin back to its inceptual roots as opium, and explains the uses to which the latex of papaver somniferum has been put throughout Western history. He explains the evolution of opium into morphine, and that drug's medical applications and inclusion in many patent medicines at the turn of the century. Metzger also provides an account of the discovery of heroin by British chemist C.R.A. Wright in 1874, and the subsequent shepherding of this astounding substance into worldwide usage, a process initially overseen by Carl Duisberg of Germany's Bayer Company, and later by the I.G. Farben chemical cartel.

At first, heroin was widely used and hailed as a "triumph over pain." But as the American cult of purity began to emerge, heroin was rapidly demonized. Through unprincipled and sensationalized media exhortations, it was tied to alien immigration from Asia, or "the Yellow Peril," which was perceived by isolationists (such as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst) as a threat to social order, and the stereotype of the diabolical Oriental drug fiend was soon fabricated and installed firmly within the American collective psyche.

In time, heroin came to be associated with defilement, sin and disease, and the hypodermic needle became a potent symbol of moral and physical transgressions. The American temperance crusade and the eugenics movement were other contributing factors in the process of heroin's fall from grace and the dope fiend's ultimate scapegoating as the lowest of the low. Seminal American antidrug czar Harry J. Anslinger furthered this cultural pogrom, adding to it an antipathy towards African and Hispanic Americans, and disingenuously linking those ethnic groups with heroin usage. Metzger also traces the activities of many other influential individuals who contributed to the public's skewed perception of the drug and its devotees over the years.

Today, heroin and its users have become synonymous with devolution and degeneracy. How this came to be makes for a fascinating tale, and Th. Metzger tells it well in The Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Loompanics Unlimited (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559501774
• ISBN-13: 978-1559501774
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,817,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Heroin Heroes", November 19, 2004

By 

Ray O'Keefe Cruitt (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend (Paperback)

When one thinks of drugs, particularly, illicit drugs, it is usual to think of them in terms of black or white. In other words, drugs are either good or bad, legal or illegal, healthy or unhealthy, &c. Concerning illicit drugs, the customary portrayal is that it has a diabolical dimension, as if the drug itself was actually sentient and its intentions were nothing but malicious. Contrarily, that same drug which at one point was contextually portrayed as evil can as easily be portrayed as a redeemer, a healer - again, almost as if it were a sentient thing - this time possessing good intentions. Is it, however, reasonable to bestow on drugs human attributes? Of course, no one would really ever admit that it, in fact, is reasonable (unless you're in Harry Potter-land), yet - Heroin has that exact kind of human status - in this case, it is wholly evil. And, by association, those who use Heroin are by default branded evil; these distinctions can lead to interesting conclusions, such as: Heroin is evil; you use Heroin; therefore you are evil. In this case, the attributes of the user are based on his or her use of the drug, and not the natural disposition of the user. Of course, logically considered, this assertion goes against all sense, yet this is how the propaganda against Heroin and its users or "fiends" have been articulated in the political arena as well as in the media. The author, Th. Metzger, considers this odd twist of unjust identification by analyzing the origins of opiate use in America and how it went from having an exalted status to that of the demonic, something bereft of any medical utility. Heroin, is, in and of itself, not only useless - but and especially morbid. A perfect and modern example of this, not mentioned in the book, can be easily seen in the hysteria over the BRAND of opiate, Oxycotin. Other than who manufactures the pill and how it is designed to work as well as its potency - there is simply no difference between it and other opiates, hydrocodones included.

Like Richard Lawrence Miller's excellent thesis of what societal role drug users play in American life in his book, "Drug Warriors and Their Prey," Metzger's book is an excellent survey of the more irrational side of the virulent American obsession with drugs, which has manifested itself in what is commonly referred to as the "drug war." In his book, Metzger mainly sticks to the topic of Heroin and the Heroin user and therefore other drugs are rarely mentioned.

This book is an excellent source for those not only interested in the role of drugs and drug users in society but why it is an issue in the first place - in fact, this book can provide many interesting directions for further study.

Metzger is an academic, but his writing is devoid of all the usual abstruse language and verboseness that attends typical scholarly writing. This work is well documented - however, I do wish that there were an index included in this work! Otherwise, Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, November 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend (Paperback)

Great book. I learned a tremendous amount from Metzger's details. I was shocked to find out the truth behind what company was the first to deal heroin (so to speak) and the real people and dates of addiction, eugenics, and the demographics of the heroin addict at different times. It's full of information that "I always wanted to know" but would never have found out if it weren't for this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Research, March 7, 2000

By 

Roy Martyn (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend (Paperback)

Having recently written my Masters Thesis on Heroin in Contemporary Film, I found Metzger's book informative and interesting. Metzger focuses largely on the link between the eugenics 'cult of purity' of the early 20th century and the emergent anti-drug attitudes of 'mainstream' culture. At times Metzger may veer towards the hysterical himself, but his analysis of the beginnings of the criminalisation of heroin goes some way towards understanding the cultural formation of illict drugs and is a must for anyone wishing to explore the construction of the heroin addict. The book redresses the imbalance of 'legitimate' narratives, which simply take a moral stance on drug issues without a historical perspective. It's also an enjoyable read.