The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-02-11
THE OPIUM HABIT.
The Indulgence I'm this DANGEROUS Mar
eotIe in the United states

The Indulgence I'm hts DANGEROUS Mar
eOtie in the United states.
Most of Us gnOw the Ogium-eater only
in literature. But doctors and drug
gist make no secret Of the fact that the
use OF opiat6s in one form and another as
q non medicinal indulgence 10 on the in
, crease. The importation Of opium has
grown greatly in amount within a few
years, ard "A Brooklyn physician heads
an article on its use as 1.-The Impending
Danger" The physician Of a home for
inebriates in Chicago was moved re-
Gently, by the great increase within the
last live years of cases of opium inc
briefly brought TO him for treatment, to
gather such statistics of the habit as
were attainable. He began by inter-
viewing fifty druggists doing business
among the various classes OF population
and in the different quarters of that city
and followed up the clews thus obtained
by a personal canvass. 10 some extent,
OF their customers. His inquiries were
directed with a view 10 finding the
number of regular opium users, their
sex, their nativity, their age, their social
relations, their occupation, causes that
led to the habit. kind of narcotic used,
and quantity.
The fifty druggists reported 1856 GUS
toners of this class. or nearly five TO each
store. But some of them sold only ON
prescription, and others discouraged
the trade by putting high prices on the
drug. OF these 235 habitual opium
users 1859 were found TO be females-or
about three to one. Deducting the
large percentage belongingt to the pitiful
class of abandoned women there still re.
manned twice as many women as men.
Out of the 235 cases 100 were of Ameri-
can birth, while but seven were Ger
mana fact which doubtless finds its
explanation in the greater nervousness
of the American, and the tendency of
the German TO seek relief from pain and
trouble in the stupOr OF beer. In age,
30 far as figures could be ~ascertained,
the majority were found TO be between
thirty and forty years. AS to social
standing few were found TO belong
either to the wealthy or the poverty
stricken classes; the majority were of
the middle class. Most were or had
been married, not a few of the latter
having separated from husband or wife
because of the misery occasioned by
this vice. In occupation most of the
men were In business callings, as dis
tinguished from the professions on one
hand and manual labor on the other
showing, again, that this is specially an
American and middle class vice.
1t was mol so easy in many cases 10
get at the causes which led TO the habit.
Eight said frankly that they took it for
its stimulating and happy effect; four
were formerly addicted to drink and
sought freedom fran the alcoholic Crav-
ing in opium; five were unhappily
married; thirty. eight laid the habit to
the effort to find relief from rheumatic
pains, and as many more TO their suffer-
ings from ~reuralgic troubles. The
great majority declared that the praCs
tice began during some disease ia which
pain was prominent, and was then kept
up for its stimulant effect. An opiate
was prescribed by the physician, and
ever afterward when suffering pain or
WEAKNESS the little powder or laudanum
or gum opium became their solace.
However much" says this physician,
1--WE may desire to avoid this grave
responsibility, the truth must be con-
fessed that the greater number OF men
and women who are now completely
enslaved to the different preparations OF
opium received their first dose from
members of our profession"
Women were found, in the majority
Of oases, to take the drug in the form of
morphia, many using from one-third OF
q grain to one grain a day and some
times using it thus for years without
the knowledge of their nearest friends.
An American woman, a widow aged
fifty, was found who took two quarts
of p%aregoric a week. In one family a
mother at the age of siXty-fve takes one
drachm of gum opium a day, ard her
daughter, thirty years old, two drachms
of the t%incture. One woman, when q
girl Of thirteen and homesick among
strangers, was given some morphine by
a morphia-taker, with the remark that
it would cheer her up and cause her to
forget her troubles. In a few days the
morphine habit was established, and for
years she has taken eighteen grains O
day, and sometimes as high as siXtyl
The danger in the opium habit is the
greater that, unlike drink, it does not
AOI LuG blLuG uSdpdSllduS OuO lOl JUDI
ness; that it is at the start so easily
concealed; that its deleterious results
are often so slow in making their APP
pearance; but the bondage into which
it brings its victim is as terrible a fate
as can befall one. Delirium tremens are
no worse than its final physical effects;
while morally, truthfulness, integrity,
family affection, every noble impulse
and every generous purpose go down in
the terrible fight to obtain more and
more of the narcotic. These statistics
are encouraging in that they do nol
show such an alarming prevalence of
the vice as some have supposed; but
they are accompanied by facts concern
ing its effects in the case ofsuch as form
the habit which ought to make people
fear to tri1e with opiates and physicians
loath to prescribe them. Any n who
takes these narcotics without the knowl-
edge of a physician-who sends such
prescriptions to be reilled after the first
supply is exhausted-iS standing on the
edge of n fearful precipice. 1t were bet
ter to muster a little more pluck tor
bearing pain than to turn SO readily to
such dangerous alternatives. 49, Good CONF
pGny.