Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-11-13
POPULAR STIMULANTS.

phine, Opium and Absinthe Habits.
II don't think / can recall case
where a grown person used paregoric
for stimulant" said a prominent
physician
1t is a stimulant. nevertheless, as
nearly every mother knows Where is
the mother who. at some point of her
ch1ld's babyhood. did not administer
dose OF paregoric, or soothing-sirup. So
called, which is, in reality, nothing but
paregoric? Paregoric is simply mild
form of opium. The only stimulating
effects 1t has is from the opium it con-
tains 1t is, OF course, mixed with other
drugs, and the whole compound is called
paregoric- 1t is looked upon as a harm
less baby's medicine that comes into
play very readily when baby is soualling
and the head of the house demands
peace at any price. Then 1T is that the
paregoric bottle is seized and the irate
youngster given q small dose. The
child sinks into Slumber and ceases to
cry
This well-known family decoction is
not dangerous unless an overdose is
taken. and then, as with opium. death
Is likely to ensue- Occasionally ply
slcian makes a mistake in writing a
prescription for paregoric that is likely
to cause the death Of his patient Two
prescriptions may read much alike, and
yet have a far different meaning. Like
this: 'Tinct Opil' and .Tinct Opil
Camph-' The former means tincture of
opium and the latter paregoric- You
can readily see that If the former was
obtained and used where paregoric was
intended that the result would be fatal,
and such mistakes have been made.
While in itself not dangerous, unless
an extra large dose is taken. paregoric,
as / before said, has the properties of
opium, and its effects are the same,
only in a milder form
people who are determined to use
some form of stimulant can very readily
find poisons enough that will do the
work quickly and give better satisfac-
ton than paregoric- The two stimulants
most popular in Chiaago are morphine
and opium. They are, perhaps, used
more extensively than is generally
thought Neither is very costly, and
easily obtained There are other s tim
ulants, such as cocaine and absinthe.
Cocaine is used considerably, but not to
any alarming extent as yet, and 1 only
recall one case where death resulted
from its use AbSinthe is a distinctly
foreign stimulant and unless some of
| our newly-arrived foreigners drink it
do not think it is used in Chicago. This
vile, greenish-looking liquor leads the
| drinker to more horrible death
than any of the other drugs.
1t leads its victims along in per-
| feet security; for once the habit
is formed it is hard thing to quit
Many foreigners drink q small quantity
regularly before dinner each day. They
argue that it is a good appetizer and
| aids digestion They were never more
badly fooled The drug has a most per
nicious effect on the system. and strike.
at the very core of life. The evils Of
the use OF alcohol are mild and few com
pared with those of absinthe. Fortu-
nately its use is an ol1-country habit
But morphine and opinm are used
very freely in Chicago. In my daily
rounds my business brings me- face tc
face with many of these cases Nor
phine is, perhaps. taken more than
| opium. This unhappy state of affairs
| is brought about by different causes
Some take these deadly stimulants as z
| form of dissipation, and these have &C.
| quired the habit through evil associa-
tions many others have been led into il
almost unconsciously- BY this 1 mean
that there are many persons who al
some time in their life suffered from
some acute infiammatory disease from
which relief at any cost seemed vel
come To them opium and morphine
were not hideous drugs to be Stunned
but a blessed relief from their suffer
ings- They took the drug and were re
| lieved. Their sickness over, the habit
remained, and unconsc;ously they fell
victims to the very drug originally used
as a panacea for their ailments
| cago News