Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground

by Marek Kohn

As entertaining as it is enlightening, Dope Girls vividly records the scandals and moral panics in Britain that followed the end of the First World War, as drug use—especially of morphine and cocaine—was transformed into a national menace. The cast of characters includes Billie Carleton, a West End musical actress, whose highly publicized death from an overdose in 1918 fueled public anxiety; Brilliant Chang, a Chinese restaurant proprietor; and Edgar Manning, a jazz drummer from Jamaica—identified as the villains of the affair and invested with a highly charged sexual menace. Around them swirled a raffish group of seedy and rebellious hedonists. Britain was horrified and enthralled—the drug problem was born, amid a gush of exotic tabloid detail. A cult classic in Britain, Dope Girls remains both timely and instructive.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Crime, Sociology, British Literature, Drugs, Audiobook

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Marek Kohn is a British science writer on evolution, biology and society.

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

Very readable social history covering drug use in the UK, the overreaching powers of DORA and criminalisation, and some of the key scandals that shaped opinion. Quite short, snappily written, interesting stuff.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating study about the origins of the "dope" culture in
Britain which exploded onto the front pages following the death
of Billie Carleton in 1918 from a suspected drug overdose. Carleton
was a struggling actress with a succession of "mentors" who was
finally making her name in some West End productions but her
death only brought to the surface the sub culture of drug peddlers
hob-nobbing with the bright young things of London café society
ie Diana Manners. The government then began a series of deportations
on the "three strikes and you're out" policy as the majority of
drug victims seemed to be flappers who needed cocaine to dance the
night away at seedy Soho nightclubs and racism reared it's ugly
head when the major figures of the drug trade turned out to be
African Americans or Oriental, charismatic figures like "Brilliant"
Chang. Newspapers fuelled the fire with stories about "frail
white women" held in thrall by "smiling yellow men" and the
race was on to save the English "rose" from the insidious
"yellow peril"!!
An extremely readable book, Marek Kohn explores the frenetic
London club scene of the twenties with stories about nightclub
entrepreneur Kate Meyrick and the girls who paid the ultimate
price such as Freda Kempton. Interspersed between this terrific
story are snippets from popular books which proved that drugs
were getting to be a big part of post World War 1 culture ie
"Dope" by Sax Rohmer (creator of Fu Manchu) and "Dope Darling"
by David Garnett.

[Amber Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

The transition from drugs being legal in the Victorian era to illegal is interesting and the race/gender issues surrounding the drug culture of this era is as well. Women, blacks and Asians were thought more susceptible to their passions and depraved behavior.
However, I found the author’s’ style to be extremely dry and to be at times quite unfocused. Interesting data often was buried in what I considered extraneous details so I often found this book tedious going.

[Lauren Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at cocaine and opium use in Britain after the First World War. Flappers, racism, sexism, the night-crawl society of Shaftesbury Avenue and Chinatown, suicides and sexual menace. It's quite a read and exposes how fear about sex, race, and class led to the criminalization of drugs.

[Linda Boa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly compact look at the origins of our Drug Laws - which haven't changed much in nearly 100 years. The author takes the view that it was in order to prevent white girls mixing with Chinese then black men which led to the laws being created, originally as part of a Defence of the Realm law. If you've a passing interest in criminology and its history, it's worth a read, but those with a thorough knowledge of the subject will find little new to learn, although the writer is skilled, and has clearly researched his subject thoroughly.

[Rhiannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Social and cultural history of the cocaine panic in London in the early 1920s. The panic was framed by popular anxiety about gender and race following the first world war, and took shape in the narrative that emerged in inquests, court cases, media and fiction from about 1916-1925

It'd be an interesting one to read alongside Sayers' Murder Must Advertise. Although that one is set in the 1930s the drug scene it depicts is very similar to scene a decade earlier which Kohn examines.

[Molly Rothwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars for what it is , a series of case studies on the history of drug culture in London, very interesting although at times a bit repetitive. Reminded me of readings for my history degree in a good way! Interesting discussions on how the drug scare was used to enforce white male societal control in Britain and the racialisation and gendering of the ‘drug problem’ and lots of discussion of this directly playing out in specific areas of London! Happy I read this.

[Souvik Datta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Stacy-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read. It shows how easy you can get access to drugs as well as getting caught up into it.

[Immie Charnley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought it was fiction, it was not. I think I'll try the BBC (fiction) series instead

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a very interesting social history about drug culture in the early 20th century. It focused on women drug users and the changing attitude of society towards drug taking. It was less about the legal or scientific study of drugs in culture and more about the way women were represented and the threat of the "coloured man". This is a period of history I don't know much about, but I thought that Kohn did a good job of analysing the changing roles and attitudes towards women, in particular women drug users in this period. Kohn also did a good job of analysing the racist fears of the time, how in many instances it was not the drugs that were seen as bad, but the idea that they led to white women having sex with Chinese or African men that was seen as the real threat. One of the most interesting chapters to me looked at the reputation of Chinese men as husbands and the views of them in the popular press versus actual accounts. The book also told the story of actresses who died of drug overdoses and the men who supplied drugs. It was an interesting look at agency, both in the women's choices as well as the legal ramifications. Kohn did a good job of comparing the inital problems with the more modern drug issues of the 80s and 90s. Indeed when discussing the Defense of the Realm act it reminded me a lot of the loss of freedoms that have come about as a result of the War on terror both in the UK and the US. In places the book fell a little short when simply "telling" what was known about the "notorious drug dealers" of the early 20s. But overall I found this very enjoyable and interesting reading.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book which traces the casual legal use of opiates and the eventual criminalisation of the substances based as much on bigotry as scientific evidence.
The book shows how racism and homophobia via media and court accounts led to convictions and manipulated the public into criminalisation of drugs ...drugs which went from being readily available from the chemist to steadfastly illegal in a short space of time..as such the rational of the public needed to change and the usual scapegoats where trotted out.
It's not neccessarily a 'pro drugs' book and to be honest I have no axe to grind in that respect neither but it does spell out how social drug use has morphed into other areas of criminality since the prohibition in much the way Ben Elton did within his fictional book 'high society'..not only have users become criminalised but a 'cottage industry' of crime has also arisen around dealing and theft to support habits..an interesting book and as other's mention not overtly academic so easy to follow and digest.

[Nicola Sellars · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea about the history of drug addiction in this country and where it came from until I read this fascinating book. It really brings alive the period around the First World War and into the 1920s explaining the nature of drug addiction especially among women and the horrific way this was used in the press as young women were portrayed as being victims of black men who were heavily demonised. Marek Kohn looks in great detail at the reality behind the hysterical lies. The book is a very thorough study but not remotely dry or academic, it is easy to read and hard to put down. I'm writing a novel set in the aftermath of the First World War and this book helped enormously to give grit and reality to the period.

[rachael gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating insight with some great case studies, although it's not presented in an off-putting academic way for the casual reader. Interesting (not to mention disturbing) revelations about the widespread ignorance and racism in the era too. Definitely learnt a lot from this relatively quick read and it also opened my eyes to a few more books and films that I need to purchase next!

[Bex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on a particular subject and regarding it's effect on the growing society, and as long as you read it, excepting it's subject matter and with interest, this was a great informative and interesting read

[Adelaide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super intéressant, je connaissais pas du tout le sujet mais c’était très intéressant. Le seul bémol était la longueur parfois de la section sur la femme qui overdose et le procès qui m a un peu fait décrocher.

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay non-fiction read. Probably could have been condensed.

What I took away was a cocaine overdose sounds an absolutely horrendous way to go and the incredibly named Willy Johnson was the first drug dealer arrested in London.

Work book club pick

[Ellen Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a great concept and had the potential to be a fascinating and an engrossing non-fiction but somehow made this so dry and torturous to read. The book felt like an injustice to the history it was recounting

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction to/pop history of Britain's drug culture. Lots of interesting case-studies, not overly academic.

[Mylesgorton · Rating 5 out of 5]

really explains how drugs "problems" came about - Heroin has a fascinating history.