Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-20
DRUGS THAT CURE PAIN.
People Must Have Them Nowadays, Though
Their Price BE Death.
S6HINHIS Is THE AGE OF ANQDYNES "

People Must Have Them Nowadays, Though
Their Price BE Death.
ssYNHIs Is THE AGE OF ANODYNES,"
Il said q Washington apothecary to a STAR
reporter. SIN these days no one is willing to
suffer for moment. Pain, for the time being.
is not necessary evil; it can always be quelled
temporarily by application to the proper
medicine bottle. Nerve-soothing' and Sleep
producing drugs food the market, and any one
who experiences an unpleasant symptom ap-
plies to them for a nepenthe instead of trying
natural means for securing a restoration of
health. The overworked business or literary
man, in preference to taking a vacation, has
resort to prepared remedies for brain-tire,
and the nervously exhausted woman finds at
the chemists shop on the corner relief from
headaches and insomnia
Naturally this sort Of indulgence creates
habits which are equivalent to necessities.
Once acquired, they are. like any other vices.
most difficult to break. In large
never broken. The victim having once
learned to depend for sleep upon a drug
finds that artificial agent indispensable. A cure
for headaches likewise quickly reduces the pa
tent to slavery, and similarly with other COM
plants. To drop the remedy is to invite suf-
Necessarily these drugs are poisons and their
effect sooner or later is to destroy. Who can
tell how many inmates Of the lunatic asylums
have been made in this way?
"The business of manufacturing nerve-sooth-
ing and sleep-producing preparations of this
kind has grown to such enormous proportions
recently that one of the biggest rug-making
firms in New York is about to give up its gem
eral business and go into the exclusive branch
OF turning out special remedies of the sort de-
scribed.
MONEY IN CATERING TO VICES.
'The simple reason is that there is more
money in catering to vices than in ministering
to health. People are willing to pay enor-
nous prices for these medicines One prep
aratlon patented by the concern in question
has obtained great sale of late as a soporfic.
1t is sold for 50 an ounce, though in Germany
the same article is only worth rs cents an
ounce. The cost is nearly all profit to the
manufacturer. What does he care for the well
fare OF his fellow beings SO long as he scoops in
wealth at such q fabulous rate? He is the
Aladdin of today, and the lamp he rubs Is the
crucible OF chemistry. What the alchemist of
old tried to do he accomplishes by literally
Transforming its product into gold.
There are many Of these chemical firms en-
gagged in the production of such preparations
which they patent under various names ending
in inc, Ia and oil The chemical constitution
OF the drugs u readily ascertained, the property
consisting in the names attached to them.
Thus, when the soporiic l have men
toned had achieved success the same
compound was brought out by other
competing concerns, labeled with different
fancy designations, and these latter products
are running against the original, with advertis-
ing regardless of expense to back them.
Notwithstanding all that is said against pro-
pr1atary or patent medicines it is fact that a
large proportion of them are excellent
ms lilo. vrba, -.
the most part they are compounded on
prescriptions long approved by competent ply
sicians. Why should it be otherwise, indeed
when the object of the patentee is to secure
success for his preparation? The trouble about
them Is that IN the practice of medicine the
chief difficulty is to determine what is the mat
ter with the patient This determined any fool
can prescribe. But the buyer of patent medi-
clnes usually takes it for granted that he can
diagnose his own complaint.
MANY REMEDIES ARE GOOD.
Because of the admitted excellence Of many
Of these proprietary remedies, physicians fire.
quently prescribe them for their patients.
Most dangerous among those which they
are obliged to select for this purpose
are the soporifcs and 'nerve-soothing
drugs l speak of. Once in possession OF the
box or bottle with the number of the prescrip-
ton on the outside, the patient has it filled
again and again indefinitely, without authority
from the doctor, because the medicine is found
to have an agreeable effect. A habit is quickly
formed, and the victim becomes q hopeless
slave to it.
There are hundreds of women in Washing
ton. from the highest to the lowest, who are
never otherwise than under the influence of
stimulant narcotic. soporific or other medical
ments Many of them are SO far gone that they
call themselves habitual invalids though if the
drugs were taken away from them they would
soon be entirely well.
While speaking on this subject may as
well refer to opium, which is consumed in
Washington to an extent that you do
not dream of. Women take it largely in
the shape of laudanum and morphine
They get the latter at drug stores by
the drachm, in bottles, and consume little
of it at time by letting small portion dissolve
in the mouth or by stirring it in water. Often
they get the gum opium and chew it. Men
smoke it mostly. Many young man do see
in the street whom l can pick out as a victim.
though his intimate friends do not suspect him.
The first marked symptom exhibited by
such an unfortunate is a contraction of the
muscles at the corners of the mou tn. Another
is a paleness and sallowness of the complexion,
giving to the skin an unnatural appearance.
have heard young fellows speak of having
tried pipe of opium just for the fun of it.
but it is hardly a kind of sport that l
would recommend attempting, SO frightfully
easy Is the habit to acquire. You might well
be excused for imagining that l am romancing
when l tell you that there are many little
clubs of men in Washington who do their
opium smoking together i'll cheap rooms hired
for the purpose in out-Of-the-way places,
where they can enjoy private and arti-
hclal Elyslum all by themselves. 1t is essen
TALLY secret vice, that of the opium consumer
The victim never tells, and when death comes
AS a consequence the cause is always carefully
covered up"