The herald., 1898-12-11
Tie COCAINE MONSTER
THROWING HIS TENTACLES
AROUND THE NATION
HOW IT GRIPS ITS VICTIMS
The Deadly Drug: Whose Influence
Carries Men to Insanity and
Death Becoming Too Popular

Value of cocaine leaves imported at the
port of New York in 1894, Sl4,2S4; imported
In 1897, S54, ,l22; indicated value of imports
for 1898, $4,000.
In these simple figures are contained the
elements of warning sermon that would
startle ali America. We seem to be rapidly
becoming a nation of cocaine tends. If the
number of those addicted to the use OF the
dreadful drug continues to increase at the
present rate the importation of what was
originally regarded as a blessed alleviator
of pain will have to be classed with opium
and its use prohibited by law except for
medicinal purposes.
AT present the cocaine fiend can purchase
the drug without trouble and the ease with
which it is taken is fatal recommenda-
tion to those who crave a nerve-deadener.
No laborious cooking of pills over lamp
cleaning of implements or troublesome neces
sity for secrecy, as with the use of opium
Cocaine can be taken at any time, with
scarcely any trouble, and without a soul
besides the user being aware of his being
in the tolls.
AT first that is. 1t will not be long before
every intimate friend will observe change
a gradual and scarcely perceptibe change,
duct of the cocaine tiend. If the one who
yields to the toxic influence of the drug be
q lawyer then it will be noticed that his
language as he pleads case in court has
become particularly ditfuse. while his argu-
ments are long drawn out and lacking in
logic. Others will notice this pecuiarity
and wonder. The victim will be in blisstul
ignorance of anything wrong. for another
mia Of tba Of
oning is that it lulls the user into a de-
lightful feeling of self-satisfaction, and,
whatever his shortcomings, he is contented
and happy-until the influence OF the drug
departs and leaves him only with the dead
ly craving for more that none can fight off.
The lecturer who becomes a victim TO the
cocaine habit will, to the surprise of his
audience, spend the entire period allotted
to a certain subject on a single insignificant
part of it, or seem to forget the topic en-
tirely and wander into something entirely
foreign 1t will strike the listeners that
the learned lecturer has been drinking or is
beginning to get feeble-mnded. There will
be nothing in the appearance or manner of
the speaker TO indicate that he himself has
the slightest knowledge that ne has not
been treating the subject in the brightest
d
that deludes its victims. 1t is the very devil
himself in the form of an innocentlooking
crystal, and the way the be-pitied
cocaine user is dragged slowly, but with
awful certainty, down. to- insanity and death
is a terrible tribute to the strength OF the
demon that turks in the drug.
This confusion of ideas and language Is
the first symptom of the toxic influence of
the cocaine beginning to work. II you have
friend in whom these symptoms are no.
ticed, it might be well to find out if he is
addicted TO the use of cocaine, for at this
early stage the habit may be broken. Later !
it is almost hopeless for the victim to try
to sunder his chains.
Begun in many cases in a legitimate way.
as an anesthetic, the surprisingly pleasant
effect Is sought Tor again by the one who has
had a glimpse at the portals of elysum This
is the beginning of the terrible habit. The
effect is sense of eXhilaraton followed by a
quiet, dreamy state that causes the worried
man to forget his troubles and the sufferer
his pain. Once this freedom from physical
and mental sickness has been experienced,
the cocaine tiend will rob or kill to get the
drug. Enforced non-use OF it will not cure
the victim. Sentence him to a term OF I'M
prisonment, and he will go straight from
the Jail door to the nearest drug store to
secure cocaine before he eats or sleeps
This of course, cannot last From an |
occasional use of the drug to Unsuitable |
craving is the rational course of the cocaine |
fend. From thence to the insane asylum !
and the grave is a swift and easy descent.