Research So Far
My research topic was originally pain management but as I have conducted my research I have begun focusing specifically on opium use. I have been looking at the evolution of opium use, how it went from being a widely used and accepted medical treatment to being seen as an addictive and dangerous substance that needed to be illegal. As I continue my research I want to look at the cause of the this change and also at the social and economic effects that this change in view had.
Sources so far:
History of Opium, Opium Eating and Smoking, 1892, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/2842564.pdf
Opium and Oral History, Virginia Berridge, 1797, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/40178568.pdf
Drug Use and Drug Policy, Eric W. van Luijk and Jan C. van Ours, 2002, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/40752354.pdf
Opium Eating and Political Subjectivity, Timothy A. Hickman, 2007, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/j.ctt5vk8xs.6.pdf
A Salve for all Ailments, Thomas Dormandy, 2012, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/jctt1np7pj.20.pdf
Pain Control: Stigmatizing Patients as Addicts, Margo McCaffery and Chris Pasero, 2001, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/3522407.pdf
The Calculus of Suffering in Nineteenth-Century Surgery, Martin S. Pernick, 1983, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/3561773.pdf
Victorian Opium Eating: Responses to Opium Use in Nineteenth-Century England, Virginia Berridge, 1978, www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/3827593.pdf
The International Opium Conference, Hamilton Wright, 1912, http://www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/2186887.pdf
Excellent narrowing down of your topic – the shift here will give you room for a cause-and-effect thesis, and you have some good sources here.
So it seems like you’re focusing on the effects of the shift rather than the cause, which is fine. You’ll be able to get into more modern statistics. But be careful to stay with a *historical* thesis, rather than just using the history as background to our contemporary issues.