Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend

by Th. Metzger

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, this wasn't always so. Like everything else, heroin has a history, and so does the societal archetype of the heroin addict. Over time, heroin has came to be associated with defilement, sin and disease 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.

Genres: Drugs, Nonfiction, History, Addiction, Politics

222 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

About the author

Th. Metzger is a writer and musician who lives in Western New York. He teaches writing and literature at the State University of New York at Geneseo (his Alma Mater) and Brockport. In the 1980s, he performed solo under the name Blind Dudu Process.

Reviews

[Ryan Leone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very illuminating look into the origins of a drug that has become an international epidemic. This reads like a college history book. I found it interesting that Chris Columbus was opiate- dependent when he discovered America. In the middle 1800s doctors referred to opium as God's Own Medicine. Later, pharmaceutical companies like Bayer would sell heroin over the counter. This book also focused on the demonization that heroin addicts endure and how we have fallaciously incarcerated addicts instead of providing them with the treatment that they so desperately need. Glad I'm off that shit, 3 years June 13th.

[Tiago Brasil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book, well written and researched. This book exposes the hypocrisy, corruption and utter ignorance that permeates all aspects related to drugs, focusing on the biggest taboo of all, heroin and junkies. It dives deep into the history of it's pharmaceutical origins, it explains how easily and effectively people's prejudices and fears were shifted onto the drug addict as it has been done to any minority before. People often forget the human aspect behind the labels put on the one discriminated and typified such labeling, I think for that reason alone is a great book, and an important one for anyone who's interested in history in general to read, regardless of what experience or lack there of the reader may have with addiction or drugs. I could expand and tell you how tis book makes many arguments I agree with, others I'm in the fence about and others I absolutely is agree with the author on, but if you are curious about it, that would be spoiling he journey really or you. I see this in many people's "to read" lists, do read it. It's not a long book and at the very least you'll have learned something from it whichever way you look at it!

[The Elf of the Ostfront Harlot of Eros Hannahlore · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most unabashedly honest raw truth about why heroin and heroin users are demonized. It’s an incredible book one I cite often in my college writings and presentations, as a ardent harm reductionist, it proves the point that legalizing all drugs is the only way to stop the failed war on drugs. And also I just gotta say it but fuck Anslinger and Hearst!

One of my favorite books to recommend to folks who stigmatize myself or my fellows

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to say I really liked a book on this topic but I think it's a 4 star book. The author is very thorough in exploring all the historical factors leading up to the development of the cultural/social image thought of as the “dope fiend.” Fascinating topic, original thinking, history at its most interesting.