St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-13
A Druggist Descants Upon the Opium
Habit and It's Growth in
st. Paul.
eloquent Discourse by Rev. DR.. Dana
on the Apostles Plea Before
King Agrippa.
Reduction of Local Tariff Rates Between st
Paul and Chieago-Its Effect on
JObbers
Detective Pinkerton En- Route to st. Paul
With James, the Swindler-Political
Notes-Amusement Outlook.
THE DEADLY POPPY.

1 druggist Gives Some Startling Information
Concerning the Use Of Opium in
st. Paul.
There is no craving so terrible as thai
of the opium or morphine CATERS" said
prominent druggist to GLOBE reporter yes
terday in speaking of the extent to which the
drug is used in this city.
eOnce addicted to the habit" and the
hopeless victim is scarcely ever released
from the relentless thraldom. When de-
prived of their daily quantum of the drug
the victim resorts to every device that the
Imagination or cunning can suggest to sup
ply his Unsuitable appetite. When the reg
ular opium eater is long deprived OF his
stimulant his brain burns, his pulse beats
high and his blood boils. 1t is like trans
position from Paradise to Hades.
You may talk about the craving for whisky,
and the effects of that liquor, but it is moth
Ing compared to the pernicious influence
exerted by opium or morphine"
care there many opium eaters in St.
Paula"
"Wel, yes; the most common form,
though, is to take it in the form of NOR
phine." I know one store a few blocks
from here that has at least a dozen regular
customers. Now say there are fifty stores
with ten opium customers each in st. Paul,
and YOU have 500 chronic takers of the drug
in one form or another"
''Why, I'll bet that you pass number OF
people every day, some Of them your own
acouaintances, vino are chronic victims to
the terrible influence of opium. Of course
YOU would never suspect it, except perhaps
you were posted on the effects.''
Chow does it show itself on the victim
outwardly!"
''You can almost always tell the morphine
eater by the eye; the pupil Of the optic be-
comes contracted and when the case is pretty
far gone as have sometimes seen it, the
pupil becomes as small as pin head"
"What is the most frequent form or
method Of taking opium?'
''There are various ways, but Of Ia tie NOR
phine hypodermic injections is the most
popular. The victims purchase a hypoder-
mic syringe and use it themselves. This is
the fashionable application of the drug, the
old way Of eating or drinking morphine be-
ing mostly confined to women of the town.
Some take il in pill form but the injection is
looked upon with more favor.
s'Only a short time ago | saw man whose
body was In an awful condition from the
hypordermic process. The skin on his arm
was shrunken and as tough as leather, and
you could stick pin in his flesh up to the
head and he wouldn't feel it."
''Is the habit confined to any one classw
s'Well, not particularly. The almost fatal
habit is as common with the man or woman
who lives in a swell front and has an in
come as with the poor devil who resides in a
shanty.
Women are the most inveterate eaters of
morphine and they take it in all conceivable
shapes"
''To what do you ascribe the reason for the
habit being so generate"
''Well, l think as a matter OF fact that
physicians themselves are frequently to
blame. In the first place they prescribe pills
or hypodermic injections to relieve pain and
after a few applications the craving begins
and if not fought down at once the
habit becomes chronic. The druggists
and doctors are more careful now
than formerly, however, as the new phar-
macy law requires that morphine be included
among the list of registered poisons."
"What do you consider the best cure or
antidoten'
''It is hard to tell; scores of things are ad-
vertised, but as a rule they are of no account.
The best antidote l know of is the tincture of
avela sakina, extract of oats or chloride Of
gold. Both the latter are good, but once the
habit has become set perfect cure is quite
impossible"