Growing & Smoking

Mark Chirnside

Mark Chirnside

Member
I was 'informed' last week that smoking was much more widespread in 1912. True.

But I also heard that first class passengers could grow weed on the Titanic; I couldn't stop laughing. Untrue!(?) Oh dear. I can imagine lots of plant pots hidden in the en-suites, or the engine room!
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Best regards,

Mark.
 
Hi Jason, Colleen, Brian!

It is funny. I heard the idea from a friend at college, who was likely half-joking but does come up with some interesting ideas.

When it was made illegal in the UK, I don't know.

Best regards,

Mark.
 
"HIGH! Welcome to Titanic, she weighs in at over six and a half millon STONE. Some of her rivets were HAMMERED in by hand, our steam PIPES are strong and our expansion JOINTS are sturdy and as a TOKEN of our appreciation.......
ah bow-lochs......I'll stop.
 
Let's get something straight here. Pot was NEVER served in First Class (not even in the potted shrimp). In Third Class, however, the thursday teatime menu offers 'dry hash'. I'm up for that.
 
Leona,

The weed was made illegal for non-medicinal use in the UK in 1928, but I believe it was still available from pharmacies on prescription (in tablet form) until well into the '60s. Certainly it would have been fairly respectable if available on the Titanic - Queen Victoria was not long departed and she had favoured it for relieving period pains.

'Recreational' use in Britain didn't take off until the 1950s, when Caribbean immigrants brought ganja to these shores and it became popular with white jazz musicians. First police bust was in 1952 at the Number 11 Club in Soho. And no, I wasn't there!

Bob
 
Hallo, Lee. There was nothing scandalous or even unusual in the medicinal use of 'Indian hemp' in the Victorian period. The Queen's personal physician, Sir Russell Reynolds, frequently prescribed it for menstrual cramps and wrote in 'The Lancet' that the drug "when pure and administered carefully, is one of the of the most valuable medicines we possess". A claim that many today would support, though I have no personal opinion to express!

Another Victorian favourite was laudanum, a solution of opium in alcohol. One brand, sold as 'Godfrey's Cordial' (no relation) was advertised as an ideal remedy for whatever ails you, and was frequently used to reduce noisy infants to a state of peaceful torpor.
 
Well, well....... a spliff w/yer afternoon tea, and a concert by the ship's orchestra! I could think of less pleasant ways to pass a couple of hours!

Upon reflection, these people DID eat enormous quantities of food, right! Maybe ganja and hash were smoked in the First Class Reception room before gliding in to dinner?????????????
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Even in the early parts of the 20th century, the United States and "all interested nations" were trying to stamp out the use of all narcotics. A conference in Shanghai in 1906 saw the first steps in the prohibition. Followed by the Hague conference of 1911, leading to the total illegalization in 1912 in what was called the Hague Convention of 1912 (I know its the same name as the year before). Though the implementation of these laws werent really enforced until 1914, I think it shows that pot plants on the Titanic would be a stretch on a ship travelling internationally.

Drew
 

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