Comité de Salut Public drinks bill...?

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

I heard a reference to the Committee of Public Safety's drinks bill on a radio programme a couple of years ago, but I've never come across a written reference to it. Does such a thing exist, or was it a post-Thermidor 'hey, don't blame us, we were drunk all the time' excuse? I've also heard similar about the Tribunal, but again haven't found a reliable, non-anecdotal, non-hostile source.
I'm also aware that the average alcohol intake was universally far higher from the dawn of time until the 19thc - it was safer than water!
On a related issue, does anyone know if the opiate laudanum was used/abused in France as much as it was in Britain at the time? I don't know how greatly the trade links would have made a difference here. I can't remember ever having come across a reference in anything on the Revolution - the Romantic poets in Britain in the 1790's were living on the stuff - but I did wonder if that, rather than the usually assumed bisexuality, may have been Camille Desmoulins' 'vice'?

Comments

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I very highly doubt they were drunk; it's illogical and there's no evidence to support it. No reputable source would even posit it. That doesn't mean they didn't drink, but there's a difference between drinking and getting drunk. That's an interesting theory about the British aristocracy, by the way, but it looks to me like one of those trends that people notice in hindsight, rather than a conscious decision on the British aristos' part.

It was a terrible series, from the point of view of historical accuracy--and yet so much better than some! I posted a detailed commentary on it a couple of days ago. You would really have had to see the context in which Robespierre was taking the laudanum... It really didn't look like it was for medecinal purposes.
I can see how a laudanum addiction might be thought of as a vice, even in the 18th century, just from the standpoint of overindulging in general's having long been viewed as a vice.