Chinese immigrants first established Chinatowns in Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, and here too, opium dens were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When the city of San Francisco began taxing imported opium for smoking, the trade was diverted to Victoria, and, from there, much of the opium was smuggled south into the United States. However, a fair amount of opium was consumed in the opium dens to be found in the Chinatowns of Victoria and Vancouver. The latter city's "Shanghai Alley" was known for its rustic opium dens. As in the United States, non-Chinese often frequented the Chinese-run opium dens in Canadian Chinatowns
Source: Murphy, E. F. (1922). The black candle. T. Allen.
| Drugs: |
Opium (morphine, heroin, opioids) |
| Regions: |
Canada |
| Topics: |
Cultivation, production and trade |
External Links
This Week In History: A Vancouver World reporter checks out the opium dens of Chinatown
Related Timeline Items
The Opium Act: the beginning of drug prohibition in Canada (1908 CE)
The Opium Act of 1908 makes it an offense to import, manufacture, possess or sell opium for non-medical reasons in Canada. People who are found in violation of the statute may be punished by incarceration of up to three years and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
This legislation was largely motivated by a desire to regulate Chinese residents of Canada. After anti-Asian sentiment led to labour riots against Chinese and Japanese residents of Vancouver in 1907, William Lyon Mackenzie King was appointed by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier to deal with the aftermath of the situation. While King sorted out claims for the damage that had been done to Asian businesses during the riots, he noted that one of the Chinese businesses claiming damages was an opium factory and was shocked by the scope of the opium trade.
Laurier then sent King on a world tour to figure out how to deal with issues surrounding immigration from Asia. The solution? Make up a benevolent pretext - Asians cannot survive the cold Canadian winters - it doesn't have to be true. When King returned to Ottawa, he proposed an Opium Law saying, "We will get some good out of this riot yet." Rather than addressing the labour disputes between white and Chinese workers, King shifted the problem to opium use by Asian foreigners. The law was easily passed within a few weeks and has defined Canadian drug policy for over a century.
Two women and a man smoking in an opium den, late 19th century
