Addiction

The denotation of the term "addiction" has evolved a great deal across the ages. In ancient Rome, the term was appropriated to describe the formal sentencing or commitment of a person to his master, such as a debtor to a lender. Later, circa 1600s, it came to be used more innocuously to characterize a penchant, a fancy, or a devoted interest. For example, one might perhaps be "addicted" to knitting or gardening. As time and culture progressed, substances such as morphine, heroin, cocaine, and alcohol also fell among these penchants.

Notorious drunkards, hardly a new feature in the streets of London, appear in many a portrait of lower-class Victorian society and were said to be ailed by "alcoholic inebriety" or "dipsomania." Before advancements in physiology identified the development of a physical dependence in these individuals, they were historically written off as immoral and lacking self-restraint.  It wasn't until nearly 1852 that the familiar modern-day term "alcoholism" arose, mostly to the credit of Swedish physician Magnus Huss.

Opium, perhaps alcohol's more persuasive cousin and precursor to some of the aforementioned drugs, also played a starring role in both London's cultural theater and the global imperialist theater (regarding the Opium Wars with China). Literature and press from the mid-19th century depicts London's East End as home to so-called "opium dens," dark, secluded gathering places for communal indulgence in the many varieties and tinctures concocted from the "juice" of the poppy plant.