The drug, of course, had terrible social consequences. Once the pastime of the wealthy, opium smoking had spread to all strata of society, affecting countless middle-class and poor Chinese. Unlike taverns, which were social (and often political) gathering places, opium dens were antisocial spaces. Pipe-smoking addicts would lie comatose, surrounded by pungent blue smoke, drifting into their own private dreams. Addicted breadwinners spent themselves into debt and left families destitute. If an addict didn’t get his fix, the withdrawal could be excruciatingly painful.
