Image gallery: The history of addiction

Browse our gallery of 16 historical and modern images exploring drug and alcohol use. From artists' representations of addiction in society to posters used by governments to try and educate people of the risks, these images show how addictive substances have been used - and abused - by people across the world for centuries. By Ross MacFarlane.

For more scientific and medical images, see Wellcome Images.

Holmes and his hypodermic with Dr Watson

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As well as being the world’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes was also an addict. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Holmes is described as a habitual user of cocaine, which he injects in a 7 per cent solution. At the time the stories were written, in late 19th-century England, cocaine was legal. Over the course of Holmes’s adventures, his colleague Dr Watson - who strongly disapproves of his habit - claims to wean Holmes off drugs, fearing their effect on Holmes’s mental health and intellect. However, Holmes is described in ‘The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter’ as an addict whose habit “is not dead, but merely sleeping”.
This image is of the actor William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes, in a production the Garrick Theatre, New York in 1900: hypodermic poised to inject, much to the consternation of Dr Watson.

If the Drugs Don’t Kill You, The Needle Might

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This poster, produced by the State of California AIDS Education Campaign in the 1980s, warns about the dangers of sharing needles when taking drugs. Such intravenous drug use is an important factor in HIV transmission in high-income countries: harm reduction strategies such as needle-exchange programmes are used in attempts to reduce the infections caused by drug abuse.

Khat, 2006

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This photograph was taken in 2006 in Jimma, Ethiopia, and shows market traders packaging khat and chewing its leaves. The plant is common to parts of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, where it is traditionally chewed in social situations and acts as a natural amphetamine-like stimulant. Classified in 1980 by the World Health Organization as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence, khat is still legal in the UK.

Opium den in the East End of London, 1874

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This illustration comes from the ‘Illustrated London News’ of 1874, and depicts an opium den in London’s East End. In the 19th century, Chinese emigrants to cities such as San Francisco, London, and New York brought with them the Chinese practice of opium smoking and the social traditions of the opium den. Yet despite lurid literary accounts which raised fears of the spread of addiction, 19th-century London was not a hotbed of opium smoking: there are no contemporary photographs of opium dens in London’s East End (as there are for North America), only illustrations like the one shown.

Temperance, 1890

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This mid-Victorian print aimed to illustrate the beneficial effects of temperance (being restrained in the drinking of alcohol) on a man and his family, emphasised by the mother indicating the tea on the table. Temperance movements developed in the 19th century from promoting moderation in the drinking of alcoholic beverages, towards complete abstinence from alcohol.

Blessed is he who does not drink wine, 1990

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This lithograph was produced by the Russian Government in 1990, as part of a campaign for the prohibition of alcoholic liquors. The images on the left and the centre - depicting violence and starvation caused by addiction to alcohol - are contrasted with the image on the right of a virtuous family drinking tea (above whom is the figure of a phoenix, a medieval symbol of prosperity).

Advertisement for the film Absinthe, 1913

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An absinthe addict eyeing three glasses on a table advertises this short film from 1913. During the late 1890s, absinthe - a highly alcoholic spirit derived from wormwood - became a highly popular drink in France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Its addictive qualities were vilified in the early 20th century and blamed for social disorder. By 1915 it had been banned in the USA and most of Europe: no doubt the view that it was a harbinger of misery was the message portrayed in this “instructive play”.

An intoxicated man drinking beer - advertising Blauwe Week against alcohol, 1930s

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Dating from the 1930s, this poster - warning of the dangers of alcohol - advertised Blauwe Week in the Netherlands. Blauwe (or Blue) Week was a national campaign which raised awareness of the dangers of alcohol addiction.

An alcoholic man with delirium tremens on his deathbed, 1900

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A French poster from the turn of the 20th century, its title - ‘L’alcool tue’ - translates as ‘alcohol kills’. Delirium tremens (also known as “the shakes”) is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol.

Shadows of the past cloud our present. Our swine dignity has been offended by such humans, 1950s

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Design of a poster from the 1950s in Russia, comparing the actions of an alcoholic with the behaviour of a pig, traditionally seen as one of the dirtiest of creatures.

Gin Lane, 1751

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The first of two prints designed to be looked at together, these were the response of the artist William Hogarth to the 1751 Gin Act, which sought to reduce the consumption of gin among the public. ‘Gin Lane’ depicts a population addicted to gin, destroyed by their desire for this foreign spirit. Contrast this with ‘Beer Street’, where the consumption of home-grown beer leads to an industrious, healthy and prosperous people.

Beer Street, 1751

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The second of two prints designed to be looked at together, these were the response of the artist William Hogarth to the 1751 Gin Act, which sought to reduce the consumption of gin among the public. ‘Gin Lane’ depicts a population addicted to gin, destroyed by their desire for this foreign spirit. Contrast this with ‘Beer Street’, where the consumption of home-grown beer leads to an industrious, healthy and prosperous people.

Anti-opium pills, 1904-05

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Anti-opium pills, used in opium refuges in China in 1904-05. The Christian evangelist Xi Shengmo (also known as Pastor Hsi) began these refuges in the 19th century. The pills were designed to break addiction to opium, and were originally made by Xi himself by a secret formula (which he believed was revealed to him by God).

Opium poppies

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The dried latex from the poppy - opium - contains up to 12 per cent morphine and is chemically processed to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade.

Cocaine crystals

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Electron micrograph of crystals of cocaine. Now classified as a Class A drug in the UK, cocaine was used in the 19th century as an anaesthetic.

A bookmark warning that smoking can cause cancer, 1950

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It was only in the 1950s that a link between smoking and lung cancer was first proven. This was primarily through the research of Richard Doll, carried out while he was part of the Statistical Research Unit of the Medical Research Council. Since then, a great number of public health campaigns have warned of the health problems deriving from addiction to cigarettes.