![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianregency.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Michelle-Griep-Headshot-200x300.jpg?resize=200%2C300\")
A Gentlewoman\u2019s Guide to Opium Addiction:\u00a0<\/b>How to Tell if Your Mr. Right Has Been Tokin\u2019, Smokin\u2019 or Shootin\u2019 the Poppy ~ Guest Post by Michelle Griep<\/b><\/h1>\nA Gentlewoman\u2019s Guide to Opium Addiction:\u00a0<\/b>How to Tell if Your Mr. Right Has Been Tokin\u2019, Smokin\u2019 or Shootin\u2019 the Poppy ~ Guest Post by Michelle Griep<\/b><\/h1>\nWhat comes to mind when I say Jane Austen? Hold on. Let me guess\u2026
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 swirling ballroom scenes
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dinner parties galore
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the dashing Mr. Darcy<\/p>
![\"Fire](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?fit=1706%2C2560&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/div>\nAny of these answers would be right, of course, but you\u2019d also be correct if you\u2019d shouted out opium usage. Austen\u2019s mother used opium to help her sleep, and her father was an agent in the trade. Elizabeth Barrett Browning took opiates every day from the age of fourteen, Sir Walter Scott consumed 6 grams a day, and Samuel Coleridge was a regular user.<\/p>\n
Yes, indeed. I hate to burst your bubble of the romantic days of yore, but opium addiction was an issue to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n
The first written account of the non-medicinal virtues of this drug is in De Quincey\u2019s Confessions of an English Opium Eater, published in 1821. He advocates opium usage not as a pharmaceutical pain reliever but as a trip into \u201can inner world of secret self-consciousness.\u201d Sounds positively hippyish, eh?<\/p>\n
Had Mr. Darcy been hanging out in a nearby opium den, these are the symptoms Elizabeth Bennett should\u2019ve looked for:<\/p>\n
While Jane Austen preferred to write of dances and dinners, I dove into the seamier side of things and made the hero in A HEART DECEIVED a recovering opium addict. Why?<\/p>\n
Because addiction is a contemporary problem with historical roots.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s just as hard for my fictional character Ethan to turn down a bottle of laudanum as it is for a real person today to pass on a hit of meth. With God\u2019s help, it can be done\u2014which is exactly what Ethan discovers.<\/p>\n So take care, gentlewomen, when searching out your Mr. Right. Opiates have been around since the days of Pharaoh, and are likely here to stay.<\/p>\n Interested in Ethan\u2019s story? Check out A HEART DECEIVED\u2026<\/p>\n Ethan Goodwin has been on the run all of his life\u2014from family, from the law … from God. After a heart-changing encounter with the gritty Reverend John Newton, Ethan would like nothing more than to become a man of integrity\u2014an impossible feat for an opium addict charged with murder.<\/p>\n When Ethan shows up on Miri’s doorstep, her balancing act falls to pieces. Both Ethan and Miri are caught in a web of lies and deceit\u2014fallacies that land Ethan in prison and Miri in the asylum with her brother. Only the truth will set them free.<\/i><\/p>\n A HEART DECEIVED is available by David C. Cook<\/a> and at Amazon<\/a>, Barnes & Noble<\/a>, and ChristianBook<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keep up with the exploits of Michelle Griep<\/a> at Writer Off the Leash<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n Originally posted 2013-07-22 10:00:00. <\/small><\/p> A Gentlewoman\u2019s Guide to Opium Addiction:\u00a0How to Tell if Your Mr. Right Has Been Tokin\u2019, Smokin\u2019 or Shootin\u2019 the Poppy ~ Guest Post by Michelle Griep What comes to mind when I say Jane Austen? Hold on. Let me guess\u2026 –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 swirling ballroom scenes –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dinner parties galore –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the dashing Mr. Darcy Any of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3226,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions\/3226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianregency.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/A-Heart-Deceived-front-cover-194x300.jpg?resize=194%2C300\")
Miri Brayden teeters on a razor’s edge between placating and enraging her brother, whom she depends upon for support. Yet if his anger is unleashed, so is his madness. Miri must keep his descent into lunacy a secret, or he’ll be committed to an asylum\u2014and she’ll be sent to the poorhouse.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n![\"Listen](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?fit=1080%2C1350&ssl=1\")
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