Words Penny Brewer

Photography Wellcome Library

Part of the High Society exhibition at the Wellcome Collection

Friday 11, 19.00-21.00 & Saturday 12 February 2011, 10.30-17.30

Victorian Britain was supposedly a time of modesty and austerity; nudity was regarded outrageous and manners paramount. Imagine then, a time when opium, morphine, cocaine and cannabis were openly on sale in every high-street pharmacy...Britain in the Victorian era was a global Empire awash with drugs

Drugs in Victorian Britain is a series of performances, talks and discussions at the Wellcome Collection delving into these drug addled, dissolute and debauched times. Expand and bend your mind not with the drugs of Victorian Britain but through an exploration of the 19th Century drug culture, discover the origins and todays drug controls.

These events are to compliment the High Society exhibition also at the Wellcome Colleciton, open everyday until 27th February 2011. High Society is a further exploration of the rich history of mind altering drugs, inviting discovery of how these chemicals have been simultaneously fetishised and demonised in today’s culture.

Click here for more information and to book tickets.