The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-09-18
Slaves of a Degrading And Brutalizing
Habit.

It was stated recently in Boston pa
per that inquiry among some of the
leading physicians of that city has elic'
tied the fact that the opium habit has
long been recognized by them as one of
the great evils of society. 1t exists
chiefly among the middle classes, but is
unhappily confined to no rank or condi-
ton ofmen, and includes among its victims
even members of the medical profession
whose knowledge of the dangerous char
acter of the drug would naturally be
supposed to deter them from indulging
in its use.
A prominent physician of Boston, who
was questioned on the subject, says:
II believe that the practice of taking
opium is on the increase. 1t is difficult
to get good idea of how far the habit is
prevalent, for the tendency of opium
using is to make men stealthy and deceit
full, so that the cases which the doctors
treat are exceptional ones. Very often
men are led into the habit by having
taken opium in some form to relieve
pain. I had one case, that of a young
man who had been suffering from a
painful disease. and having a certain
amount of work to do in given time
took opium to enable him to accomplish
the task. He succeeded, but found him
self slave to the habit. I treated him
for it, and he professed to be willing to
follow my directions. He was taking
ten grains a day when he came to me,
and began to reduce tue dose. He took
it in the form of hypodermic injection,
and pledged himself to take only the
dose which I would put in the syringe.
l commenced reducing at the rate of a
tenth of a grain day. If reduced at
greater rate he would feel it, and would
be after me as early as 4 o'clock in the
morning to give him another dose. He
would not abide by my treatment, but
used to buy laudanum and drink it. Of
course, under these circumstances could
do nothing for him. He finally commit
ted suicide, as nearly all opium eaters do
at last. The habit leads to condition
of melancholy, with suicidal tendencies.
II have known people to do without
the necessities of life to satisfy the
cravings OF their appetite for opium.
The old woman, dependent on chari-
table institution, used to sell what she
got as charity each month in order to
buy the drug. People who are slaves to
the habit will do anything to appease
their cravings.
II consider that the prevalence of the
vice is largely due to carelessness in pre-
scribing by physicians. | am very care
full not to label medicines containing
opium in such a way as to let the patti
ents know what they are taking, or to
give them the opportunity to duplicate
the prescription. Some people are afraid
to take prescription with opium in it,
and I am frequently questioned on the
subject by my patients. Go not know
of any cases of opium smoking outside
of the JOINTS but the drug is taken in
various other ways. Sometimes it is III
the form of laudanum, at other times it
is the crude opium, and very often it is
in the form of morphia. The method
usually depends on the way in which the
victim first formed the habit. The hy-
podermic injection is as common form
as any,"
81 think the habit of opium taking has
very much increased in the last twenty
FIVE years." was the opinion of another
physician. "In proportion to the num-
ber of opium users great many are to
be found among the physicians. l know
of four cases among my own personal
acquaintances. In one case the result
has been fatal in causing prostration. In
another the result has been suicide. The
other two are living, but ruined men.
All these men were physicians. 1t is
strange that of all men the doctors
should become victims, but it is so. The
opium habit is far worse than the habit
of excessive use of alcohol, as regards
the hold it takes upon one. The liquor
habit bears about the same relation to
opium that tea and coffee do to liquor"
Still another Boston physician adds bis
testimony, as follows:
"The carelessness of physicians in
prescribing and the use of patent medi.
cines containing large proportion of
opium are powerful sources of the for.
nation of the habit. Opium is one of
the most valuable of drugs, but must be
prescribed with intelligence, or it be-
comes one of the most dangerous. The
majority of the men who are addicted to
the vice become so through having taken
the drug to relieve pain. We sometimes
have reason to suspect the opium habit
when there are no means of proving it.
Those who are addicted to it are secretive
and deceptive, and take great pains to
keep the fact concealed from US. We
had one patient whom we attempted to
treat, and he professed to be willing to
cooperate with US, but after while we
discovered that he had box Of opium
pills concealed in his bed, and was thus
counteractiug all we did. The opium
habit is infinitely worse than alcoholism.
Liquor is an infant and opium is a giant.
When a man has been addicted to the
habit for three OF more years he is prac.
tically incurable. He has not the will
power to cooperate, and without the CO.
operation of the patient the opium habit
cannot, under ordinary conditions, be
successfully treated.
"The proportion of opium users, how.
ever, is greater among the women than
among the men, and in many cases wo'
men form the habit for the sake Of the
stimulus. It is more convenient than
liquor and less liable to be detected. l
have heard the statement made that
H. a +nvn Il, thfo State ucro