A contemporary yesterday published an article by a well-known charity worker, showing the appalling growth of the drug habit in all grades of society. Opium, morphine and cocaine are said to have today more than 50,000 slaves in New York City. Radical action is demanded from medical and legislative authorities. While these may mitigate the evil complained of, they cannot eradicate it. The drug habit is the unfailing accompaniment of the neurosis produced by this wonderful age of private-owned machinery.
Machinery imposes an exhaustive drain on the nervous system.
It compels an acceleration and competition in all departments of life, that is reflected in increased physical breakdown. Drugs then step in as a stimulant. Further, machinery has the tendency to drive men out of fruitful beneficial production into parasitic occupations. Among the latter are the quack and the drug seller. These batten upon the nervous and the physical wrecks of society, dosing them with narcotics and otherwise encouraging the spread of the drug habit, in order that they may eke out a livelihood and attain a competence in their nefarious callings.