The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-06-10
DEADLY DRUG DEALS.
Poisons Taken Secretly Being
Used for Alcohol.
A NEW THING TO WOO SLEEP,
Which VIII Kill in Tfme-The Craze
People aave for Stimulants-
Bad Reasons.

Another novelty has recently made
its appearance in the silversmith's and
| jewelers. show cases and in few of the
drug stores patronized by some rich
people. 1t is little silver cylinder,
with few minute orifices in one end, a
larger hole in the other end, and very
| fine sponge packed in its interior. Its
| purpose is to enable the convenient end
| sale inhalation of sufficient chloroform
or sulphuric ether to put a person
soundly to sleep. The new contrivance,
it is argued, is safeguard against the
carelessness born of familiar use of
those dangerous fluids. One can only
breathe the fumes of as much as has
been soaked into the little sponge, and
its dose can be regulated, so that it is
not necessary to have fatal quantity
within breathing range. But any
quantity at all is dangerous, tends to
necessitate increase as one grows &C
customed to it, and in the end is de-
structive to the nervous system.
An uptown druggist who was spoken
to about the subject said: 81 sell good
deal of both chloroform and ether with.
out prescriptions, and 1 have no doubt
to be used IN that way, bat 1 don't con-
slider that SO long as my drugs are not
intended for suicidal employment or
murder, l have any right to ask what
is going to be done with them. / know
what the law is, but deem that a drug
gist must exercise some discretion in
conforming to it. Why, majority of
the things on my shelves, things not
commonly classified as poisons either,
person could kill himself with if he
were fool enough to take too much of
them. And here's a respect that makes
US pause when we think of strictly ap-
plying the law. A great many persons
are told by their physicians to ts ke this
or that N edlcine. do so, find themselves
bettered or cured; subsequently, have
recurrence of the symptoms, and re-
membering what did them good before,
come around and demand it. Very
possibly the druggist knows them, and
understands why they want the drugs.
or has sense enough to understand
that they are telling the truth when
they make a frank statement of the
situation. What is the apothecary to
do2 Even if the man wants deadly
poison, he knows how to take it. wants
it for good reason, and is bound to
get it somewhere. Would my refusing
him make him go off and get pTescrip-
ton? Not much, unless mine was the
only drug store in town. Another
thing: don't believe there are any
people in the world who have such a
10 fnr hair oil, b.
and exchanging receipts as the AmerI-
cans have. Every street is full of men
who have attended medical lectures
with the idea Of being doctors and who
have abandoned that purpose, but still
think they know enough of medicine to
treat their own maladies and advise
their friends. And, of course, with the
American disposition to play every
hand for all it is worth, they have
but little confidence il anything
but the most powerful drugs. SO from
these various directions comes more
or less legitimate cold pizen, and just
use my own best judgment, in each in
dividual case, about supplying it,"
II have good deal OF callfor hydrate
OF choral, but hardly so much as few
years ago, when it was fashion.
Bromide of SUM, is also il good,
steady, and | fancy, increasing demand
among ladies with weak nerves aud
gentlemen with super conyiVial habits
The use of morphine, is. [ should say.
increasing, while that OF lsudanum and
crude opium is falling off. When l say
'use,' [ mean improper use of course,
and when l speak of diminished de-
mand for the crude opium, except the
kind for smoking, which is alto.
gether different from. the medicine
sort that does not pass through
my hands at all, and about the call
for it 1 know nothing. Morphine is
generally used hypodermlcally. Ii is
now practicable to get a complete outfit
for that vice as cheaply as rs cents, and
that, together with certain supposed
advantages in that method of admins
tration, has popularized the habit. Tens
of thousands OF persons of whom you
would never suspect it are addicted to
the vice. 'Cocaine?' No. There are
few or, | may say, no demands for it
except from doctors, some of whom |
regret to say, have got into the habit of
demanding it altogether too frequently.
Drugs accredited with power of stimu.
Iation of the stomach, heart or nervous
system-espeoially the latter are more
and more commonly used. You would
be astonished could you know how
many contracted habit of using cap
sicum, ginger, calisaya, strvchnia,
quinine, digitalis, phosphorus and the
thousand and one nostrums COM
pounded for stimulative purposes. l
verify believe that at least one person in
every hundred in the community has
such a confirmed habit. "Caunabis Iu-
dicus2" No. There is but little call
for it, even in prescriptions. for the
reason, think. that invaluable as it is
when fresh, of full strength and reliable,
its active principle is so volatile that
you never are sure Of what its effects
will be. Could it be depended upon 1t
would be one of the least injurious and
most agreeable of the intoxicants."
Another druggist said: 81 used to sell
a great deal of narcotic. soporifc, and
stimulant drugs while clerking in big
Broadway store, but in this new place
OF my own not much, as yet. No, I |
don't suppose because people have
stopped taking them, not by apy
means, but simply for the reason that |
/ have not been here long enough for |
them to get to know me and feel that |
they can approach me with |
confidence. Persons who are habitual |
users of drugs generally ge. to
be quite secretive about their vice, you
know. l do, however, sell vast deal