The Louisiana populist., 1898-02-04
A TERRIBLE DRUG.
The Cocaine Habit superseding the Use
Of Opium.

Inc cocaine Habit Superseding the Use
Of Opium.
Opium smoking, hitting the pipe"
as it is called, is practically thing of
the past. 1t is question if there is
within the boundaries of New Orleans
a room where a stranger can 20 for
indulgence in the oriental vice. Of
course, as long as there are ''fiends"
in the city, and these fiends have
money enough to rent a room and buy
an outfit, there will be opium smoking,
but so vigilant are the police that
Joints" are practically unknown.
Never vice was killed, that an
other did not spring up in its place.
Cocaine has superseded opium, and t
it question if cocaine is not doing
more harm to-day than opium ever
did. Indulgence in the cocaine habit
is cheap. There is no stove needed,
no needle, no long pipe You can take
cocaine in whiskey, you can inhale
the white powder, or you can use it
hypodermically. Any one of the three
methods insures forgetfulness AMI
recklessness. Cocaine is dreamily
maddening, it is intoxicating, it dead
ems heartaches and bodily pains. Ten
cents worth of cocaine will last most
victims of the habit one to two days.
Its extreme cheapness puts it within
the reach of the most poverty-stricken
The police realize what harm the
cocaine habit is doing and are making
every effort to stamp it out. They are
making slight headway, though. Not
a day passes but that from four to ten
shattered wrecks of humanity, de-
votees of the drug, do not drag their
trembling forms from the prisoners
pen and take, their medicine from the
recorders in the shape of fines and i'm
prisonment. When they have worked
out their sentence they surrender
themselves again to the benumbingly
delightful vice without the slightest
delay.
"The cocaine habit" said police
officer, is responsible for more crime
and more degradation than any of the
standard evils. Of course, it is against
the law to sell the stuff, and any one
caught in the act would be bitterly
prosecuted, but there is no getting at
the facts. There are too many drug
gists who are ready to violate the law
for the profit there is in it. No re.
putable druggist will furnish the drug,
but, as detection is impossible and
there is big money in selling the stuff
in spite of its comparative cheapness,
a cocaine fiend never has any trouble
in gratifying his appetite.
"You can take the cocaine anywhere.
A pinch of the stuff on the back of the
thumb, sniff and the drug is at work.
I suppose cocaine is mostly taken this
way. Inveterate users of the drug, I
believe, get sooner or later, to using
the 'hypo.' remember not long ago
when we arrested a hoodlum and
cocaine fiend and locked him up for
creating a disturbance and using vile
language. We searched him at the
station and took away his syringe AMI
supply of cocaine. When the effect #
the drug already in his system wore
OF he gave way to hysterical grief.
Tough as he was, he wept and begged
and prayed for his accustomed instrE-
lnent and it's deadly load We refused
to give him his belongings. He grew
hysterical, and at last we thought It
safer to telephone the Charity hospi-
tai for instructiones. We wera told
that it would be dangerous to keep him
without the drug.
IT carried the fellow his syringe and
some cocaine. He danced and shouted
for Joy. Dissolving about grain Of
the drug in a spoonful of water, lie
rolled up his sleeve. The marks left
by previous injections were so thick
that it was impossible for him to find
spot big enough to allow the inser-
tion Of the needle. The other SLEEVE
was rolled up. There was the same
result. At last it was necessary to in
sert the needle point on the mans
right thigh, where there was an un-
punctured spot the size of dime. The
mans skin looked as if he was suffer.
ing from smallpox. 1t was a horrible
sight. I believe he has since died. |
never knew until then how awful the
use of the drug was.
"In my opinion the worst result of
the cocaine habit is that it absolutely
kills all sense Of self-respect. It's
users have no morals, no conscience.
There is no depth too low for them to
dive into to procure the money for
supplying themselves with the drug
New Orleans Times-DemocTat