Chasing the dragon

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"Chasing the dragon" (a slang phrase of Cantonese origin from Hong Kong) refers to inhaling the smoke from heated opium or heroin. (Opium is referred to as a dragon in Asian cultures.) The term invokes the similarity between the rippling smoke and a dragon's tail. Opium use was common throughout the Western world in colonial times, when Chinese were kept as slaves. The slaves' presence world-wide caused a demand for opium that was filled by Western traders complicit with slave owners, as it kept the slaves mellow and eased the pain (and complaint) from hard labor. Opium dens consequently became common in Western trading ports during the period. In modern times, with the advent of heroin, the method traveled from China to Europe again, where, during the early 1990s, the technique spread to the Netherlands, and from there throughout the world. The most common form of smoked heroin is heroin base, which is also known as "number 3 heroin", so called because it forgoes the final steps to make the heroin into the salt heroin hydrochloride (see Heroin).

Though it requires more skill, "chasing the dragon" is safer than injecting heroin (due to the risk of infection from needle sharing as well as the stress injecting puts on veins). The technique also avoids the delivery of heroin into the bloodstream instantaneously, as is the case with injection, a fact which many say reduces one's chances of accidentally overdosing. A small puff can be inhaled as a method of gauging the strength of the heroin. Also, the lungs can act to filter out additional pollutants that otherwise would pass directly into the bloodstream; however, in any case it is never harmless to expose the lungs to any kind of smoke.

"Chasing the dragon" may be accomplished by placing opium or cupping heroin powder in smooth aluminum foil and gently heating from below with a flame, then inhaling the resulting smoke. The foil heats to more than 600 degrees Celsius in 2 seconds. Several types of aluminum foil are coated with a thin plastic film, and it is recommended that this film first be melted away, then wiped clean from the foil, as plastic produces harmful fumes when melted and inhaled. Smoke from opiates cause the passages in the lungs to constrict, on top of their effect of depressing breathing. Individuals with any form of breathing difficulty ( including asthma) should avoid smoking altogether; there have been deaths in the Netherlands resulting from individuals with asthma suffocating due to inhaling heroin smoke.

[edit] In popular culture

  • In the episode A Family Matter in the Gilmore Girls series, Paris Gellar tells her boyfriend that Rory's friend Lane is chasing the dragon as an excuse so she doesn't have to see him.
  • The term is also mentioned in the Placebo song "My Sweet Prince", which is partly about heroin, in the line "me and the dragon, can chase all the pain away."
  • It is mentioned in the song "So Young" by Suede.
  • It is featured as "this dragon we chase" into the song named "IF I Could Fly" by Boy George, on his 1995 album Cheapness And Beauty, and his 2002 set U Can Never B 2 Straight.
  • It is mentioned in several Steely Dan songs, notably "Time Out of Mind" ("tonight when I chase the dragon, water will change to cherry wine, silver will turn to gold").
  • The song "Skull", featured in the 1994 album Bakesale by indie lo-fi band Sebadoh, features lyrics which refer to chasing the dragon.
  • The title of Urge Overkill's album "Exit The Dragon" references the act of exhaling heroin smoke (as well as the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon). The front cover is a picture of (presumably) exhaled smoke. The song "The Mistake", a warning to "beware the overdose", contains the lyrics "Never gonna make it today/Until you finally exit the dragon". Ex-drummer Backie Onassis is a known heroin addict, and was fired from the band for his addiction.[citation needed]
  • The term is mentioned in the Ozzy Osbourne song "Junkie" from his 2001 album Down to Earth: "You're chasing the dragon, you're chasing the high / A bird with one wing who's still trying to fly". The song is about drug addiction.
  • The song "Lucy" by Dustin's Bar Mitzvah makes reference to the act in the lyric "You can chase all you want, but you'll never catch the dragon".
  • The Queensrÿche song "Operation: Mindcrime" (from the 1988 album of the same name) includes the lyric "Had a habit doin' mainline, watch the dragon burn."
  • The song "Givin' Up" by The Darkness includes the line, "Cutting up my face, there's a dragon I must chase"
  • The song "Chasing Dragons", of Norwegian metal band 1349's album Beyond the Apocalypse, is about the experience of this type of drug use.
  • There is an autobiography of sorts called "Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pullinger who went to Hong Kong to stop drug addicts who 'chased the dragon'.

[edit] References

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