Humboldt County, CA | FREE Thursday, June 16, 2022 Vol. XXXI Issue 24 northcoastjournal.com
Opium Dens and ‘Morphine Fiends’ Humboldt County’s current opioid epidemic parallels its first BY LYNETTE MULLEN
W
hen Charles Martin addressed the Judge, his condition invoked the sympathy of everyone in the room. “Standing in the prisoners’ dock, he presented a pitiable sight,” the Humboldt Times described in an edition printed later that day. “Though young in years, he was nevertheless a broken, decrepit being, trembling in every nerve and muscle.” Martin had been arrested for using drugs and the effects of Martin’s “debaucheries” were clearly evident as he stood before the court and detailed his downward spiral into addiction. One indulgence, he said, had led to another, until he was powerless to resist his cravings. Abstinence had become a torture he simply could not bear. Confessions like Martin’s play out with a numbing regularity in Humboldt County’s courtrooms with one caveat. Martin appeared in the Eureka police court more than a century ago, on Jan. 23, 1881. The root of his addiction, opium. “This is actually not our first opioid crisis,” says Candy Stockton, who currently serves as chief medical officer of the Independent Practice Association, co-chairs Rx Safe Humboldt and was recently named Humboldt County’s next health officer. “While some things have changed, too much has stayed the same.”
Opiates, derived from the milky sap of the opium poppy, have been used for thousands of years to treat a variety of ailments including coughs, di-
arrhea (which could be fatal) and more. They also mimic the body’s natural endorphins and can relieve pain, induce sleep and enhance
users’ mood to the point of euphoria. “Opiates are also highly addictive,” Stockton explains. “Those who become depen-
dent eventually need the drug for their brain to feel normal.” Despite these challenges, Opium’s benefits (and perhaps addictive qualities) supported its early spread to ancient Greece, Persia and Egypt. By the sixth or seventh century A.D., opium had reached China and East Asia through trade along the Silk Road. In the 1700s, the British empire conquered a major poppygrowing region in India and brought opium, and addiction, back to England. Britain then began to ship opium into China, where the drug’s addictive qualities steadily increased demand. The British used the soaring proceeds of their drug sales to purchase and profit from Chinese luxury goods, such as silks and teas. China’s attempts to stem the tide of opium (and addiction) into the country ultimately failed. During the First Opium War (1839-1842), the British government used military force to keep Chinese ports open to opium and during the second (1856-1860), the British and
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6 Field of dreams 16 New chef on the block WILLIAM WHALEY. See “The Emerald Gang,” page 15.
