Scotland’s Opium Secrets
Join Professor Jim Mills on 11th November at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh as he traces the consumption of opium-based substances in Scotland in the early modern period!
About Scotland’s Opium Secrets
| 5th November 2025 | |
| 6pm - 7pm | |
|
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh New Town EH2 1JQ |
|
|
£3. Free for students, under 18s or Fellows and Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Find Tickets |
|
| Visit the event website here | |
| Follow RCPEHeritage on Twitter | |
| Facebook information can be found here | |
| Follow physiciansgallery on Instagram |
It explores their medical deployment during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by tracing their appearance in household recipe books and apothecaries' invoices.
By the 1700s Edinburgh was becoming a centre for medical research into opium products, even if controversies about them caused bitter disputes at the city's university and at the Royal College of Physicians.
Towards the end of the century physicians had started warning about the difficulties of breaking off the habit of consuming opium treatments, and as the nation entered the nineteenth-century opium products were increasingly seen as a menace rather than a marvel. Not only were the rapidly growing cities of the period turning to opium for the purposes of intoxication, but the nation's swindlers and robbers began to reimagine it as a source of poisons.
This lecture will show how the story of opium in Scotland was shaped by the wider currents of the nation's history of Enlightenment, imperialism, urbanisation and industrialization.
_____
Professor Mills teaches and researches the social history of psychoactive substances and the histories of health and medicine more broadly, particularly in contexts shaped by modern imperialism.
His publications include three monographs, Cannabis Nation: Control and consumption in Britain, c. 1928-2008, (Oxford University Press Oxford 2012); Cannabis Britannica: a social and political history of cannabis and British government, 1800-1928 (Oxford University Press Oxford 2005), and Madness, Cannabis and Colonialism: the 'native only' lunatic asylums of British India , 1857 to 1900, (Palgrave Basingstoke 2000).
He has served as Chair of the Wellcome Trust's Humanities Expert Review Group, as a member of the MRC: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Global Expert Panel, and he is currently Secretary of the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group (CPG) on Medicinal Cannabis in 2024. His dissemination work includes a role in the BAFTA Award-winning series, Darren McGarvey's Addictions (Tern TV 2022) and appearances on BBC Radio's Thinking Allowed.
_________________________
Doors open 5:30pm.
Free for students (student card required), under 18s (ID card required) and RCPE Fellows or Members.
Please email library@rcpe.ac.uk if you are a student, under 18, RCPE Fellow or Member and would like to be added to the attendee list.
| Find tickets with Eventbrite: | Search now |
Where possible we will update our listings to notify of cancelled, postponed and rescheduled events, however we STRONGLY ADVISE that you check with the venue/organiser in the first instance for updates.
All information (whether in text or photographs) is supplied in good faith but should not be relied upon as being a statement of representation or fact.GOT AN EVENT TO SHARE? It's free to post your events on What's On Edinburgh, click here to find out more!
Want to be the first to hear about what's happening in Edinburgh? Follow us on Facebook and join the What's On Scotland Group!Sponsored Links
Other Events at Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Christmas Lecture: Dr Benji Waterhouse
Join us at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for our annual Christmas Lecture with speaker Dr Benji Waterhouse on Thursday 4th December!
READ MORESponsored Links
Similar events you might like...
Guided Looking: An Artwork Audio Described
Join Fiona Johnston, audio describer, as she describes various artwork and objects from the Royal Collection at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
READ MORE
Palace Page Turners
Many authors have been inspired to pick up their pen to write about the Palace of Holyroodhouse. These sessions will explore these literary works followed by a hearty discussion!
READ MORE
Information Lecture: Help and Healing on the Spiritual Path through the teaching of Bruno Groening
A lecture about spiritual healing and help through the teaching of Bruno Groening is taking place at The Open Door Community Centre, Edinburgh on various dates throughout the year.
READ MORE
Find Out Fridays
Explore a different theme each week on Friday afternoons, during school term-time, with our Learning team at the National Museum of Scotland.
READ MORE
Coffee & French Conversation
Want to practice your French in an informal setting? Join us at the Institut français d’Écosse for a relaxed morning chat – over a cup of coffee or tea and a croissant or pain au chocolat!
READ MORE
Beneath the Surface: King’s Gallery Short Talks
Join our team at the Palace of Holyroodhouse for weekly gallery talks as part of the exhibition Drawing the Italian Renaissance!
READ MORE
Weekly Tours at St Cecilia’s Hall
Join our team of volunteers at St Cecilia's Hall for a FREE weekly tour of the collection!
READ MORE
An Evening with Heart Of Midlothian Legends
An Evening with Heart of Midlothian legends comes to the Assembly halls in Edinburgh starring legends: John Robertson, Gary Locke, Ryan Stevenson and hosted by Iain Ferguson.
READ MORE
Scotland’s Opium Secrets
Join Professor Jim Mills on 11th November at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh as he traces the consumption of opium-based substances in Scotland in the early modern period!
READ MOREFind other events in Edinburgh
Sponsored Links