Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-22
A DRUG CLERKS TALK.
People Who are Addicted to the Use Of
Opium and Other Drugs.

sUBTzEYUeEs REsoRrrD TO ~ ORDER TO SECURE
SUPPLY OF TIE DRUo-THR cHIoRAL HABIT
AND Is INEVITABLY FATAL REsULT-oUrNrNE
VOW BEING Used TO EXCESS.
Il suppose every drug store in the city has
its opium customers" said a drug clerk to q
STAR reporter, though it would be difficult to
estimate the number who are victims of the
opium habit"
why is that?" asked TIE STAR man.
well, YOU see those who use the drug be-
come secretiye after they have acquired the
appetite, and they will go as far away from
their homes as possible to procure their supply
Sometimes they patronizs two or more drug
stores. so that neither will think they are buy
ing the drug for anything but medicinal pur-
poses"
How is the habit acquired?"
Usually 1t has its origin in a physicians
prescription A doctor will give some form of
opium TO allay neuralgia or other sharp pain.
j he patient finds immediate relief, and feels a
pleasant effect Then when the pain comes
again he will get the prescription renewed.
perhaps getting double the quantity. and of
course, he increases the dose. Then he will
get copy of the prescription and take il to
another drugstore and get il put up there.
Then he has two sources of supply. Perhaps
ne viii even get copy at the second store and
take il TO third. Then he could get it at one
store one day, another the next. and the third
dag rom still another store, and so repeat
egain-"
THE FORM MOST USED.
What is the form most generally used in
taking the drug
Il don't know that there is any particular
form that is used more than another Gum
opium l. perhaps the least used, but still there
are many who are fond of it. Very few women
indulge in this form OF the drug, and the men
who use il carry IL in their vest pocket and take
little pellet every now and then. Morphia is
used too that is il is carried loose in the vest
pocket and taken out on the finger and laid on
the tongue. AZ for the liquid preparations,
Iaudanum and paregoric, they are used by both
sexes, but more frequently by women Many,
you know. resort TO hypOderrnic injections. but
then that is an expensive luxury. / remember
one day a man came into this store and asked
me for some gum opium. telling me he had
tooshache and wanted 20 put in his tooth. Il
looked at him and sized him up at once as an
opium-eater. / told him he couldn't get il
without a prescription from a physician. He
asked me to recommend him to some DOCTOR
and did so. He didn't come back and few
days sfterward the physician whose name had
given came into the store and told me his
experience. The man had tried to beat him:
and. by the way. this is a popularity about this
class Of people"
BLUSTED MORAL sENsE.
''What do you mean-that they try to beat
youg"
''Tes; if you ever let them run bill they
viii ultimately leave without paying don't
know that it's intentional dishonesty, but their
moral sense seems 10 be blunted In the case
j have referred to the doctor wrote the pre-
seription and gave it to the man. who said that
ne would come around a certain day and
pay him, as be was short OF money then. The
doctor had dealt with such people before. SO
he asked him TO let him have the prescription
Just minute to see If the proportions were
night. and when he got il into his own hands
he deliberately tore Il up and told the man
when he should return on the day he had
named with the money then he might have the
prescription"
DO these customers ever break off the
habit?'
NO indeed. don't think in all my expert
ence, and have been in the drug business for
fifteen years have known but one man who
has been addicted to the Opium habit and who
has given up the use Of the drug. They grad
ually increase the dose until they take enough
daily to xii dozen men, But the ehloroform
and choral habits are worse in their effects,
that il they are most likely to prove fatal
One of the saddest cases that remember now
was that of man well known in this city who
ded some three years ago. He did not drink
any liquor. but he used to have spells when he
had to have his ehloroform sprees. On such
occasions he would hire a room and buy an
S-ounce bottle of ehlorOfOrm. go to bed and
lDhsle the fumes until he about half
he NDul1 Keep tnat Nay Tor q week.
Until he was thoroughly exhausted. Then he
would slowly recover and be himself again
until the fit came on him again. Eventually
lie died in enc of these sprees: died away from
home, and IN a room in obscure hotel which
he had rented and occupied for nearly a week
before his death. You see. in both ehloroform
and choral the danger is that you may inhale
too much and never wake up
TIE QUISISE HABIT.
is there any way of telling people who are
addicted to the use of any of these drugs"
''Sot unless you've had great deal of expe-
rience. and even then you may be mistaken
You can detect women easier than men. Take
q woman in society who during the day is dull
and listless. who looks haggard. heavy-eyed.
and who can tx her mind upon no particular oc-
cupatiOu. but who at night is bright and bril-
liant, who talks well, dances so that she ap-
pears 20 enjoy il. and is really exhuberant in
her spirits. and nine times out Of ten that wo-
l1an Is a user Of opium in some form or other.
Heaven help them all; pity them"
rs there any other drug that is abused in
tins way
''Yes, there il being formed the quinine habit
People VIII take quiIine for almost every all
1nent. That the use of this drug in excess is
injurious is well known. for il is a violent de-
present. but just what its particular delete
r1ous effects upon the system are don't think
has been determined 1t won't be long how
ever, before the matter vii be thoroughly in
Testigated. and then people will be warned
~ ~ "a =.