Historical Perspectives: Opium, Morphine and Opiates (Part 3)

We conclude our brief history of the opiates by looking at the massive increase in heroin use that occurred in America and the UK during the later parts of the 20th century.

‘The American problem really took off in the 1960s with the increased supply of cheap black market heroin. There were about 50,000 heroin addicts in 1960 and this number rose to 500,000 by 1970. Heroin use became increasingly associated with ethnic minorities and urban poverty. The drug rooted itself in social deprivation. Property crime became an integral part of the American heroin epidemic and occurred at a level never seen before.’

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