Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-06-23
USERS OF MORPHINE.
THE DRUG RAPIDLY ENLARGING
ITS CIRCLE OFVICTIMS.
Women In New York, Says Physician Of
That City. Are Worshipins at the Shrine Of
the Death Breeder in Great Numbers.

That City. Are Worshipins at the Shrin: of
the Death Breeder in Great Numbers.
New York sun.
"The amount of morphine used by
women in New York is increasing ut
an alarming rate" said a physicion.
al do not give the drug at all, save in
extreme cases, for | believe We doctors
are largely responsible for the spread
of the evil. 1t seems such an easy,
merciful thing to relieve suffering by
a dose of morphine, and it would be all
right if the patients couldn't get the
drug themselves. They can get it.
There's the trouble.
81 was called to see one of my pa.
tients last week. She is a wealthy
woman. She developed the morphine
habit two years ago, when she had a
serious illness. Since then she has
had periodical sprees with morphine,
in spite of all we could do to prevent
her. She always says that the do
plorable state she gets into is due to
other causes, but l can tell, as soon as
| see her, whether she has been taking
morphine. Last week, when l went to
see her, she was nervous wreck and
said she had been agonizing with
rheumatism. Rheumatism is handy
thing. A doctor can't swear that q
patient hasn't got it. I accused the
woman of having been on a morphine
spree. She denied it. Iappealed to
her husband. He searched her
bureau and chiffonier and found 200
morphine pills. She had bought them
all at one time, but wouldn't tell who
sold them to her.
"Of course there's a law against
selling morphine except on prescrip-
ton, but a morphine fiend can always
get it if he is persistent, and generally
he is SO. Amy physician can tell a
habitual morphine taker at glance.
So can druggist. The latter reads
the unmisiakable signs in a mans
face and, if he hasn't a conscience,
will sell the morphine victim what he
wants. The druggist knows that the
purchaser will guard the secret quite as
closely as he could. But if a person
with no symptoms of the morphine
habit wants to buy the drug, he will
probably have great difficulty in get
ting it. No pharmacist, even if not
particularly reputable, wants to take
the chances of being hauled up for a
breach of the law.
al am constantly running across
cases of the morphine habit, especially,
as / said, among women. The life
they lead when active socially uses up
their nerves, and they take morphine
for neuralgia until they can't get
along without it. Usually they are
ashamed of the habit and conceal it
carefully, but sometimes they are
quite open about it, take their NOR
phine regularly and will not listen to
reason. Not a month ago a beautiful
young woman showed me q new
chatelaine ornament she had just
bought. 1t was a remarkably hand
some gold case, studded with jewels,
and looked like vinaigrette. The
top opened, and inside were tiny
hypodermic syringe and tube of NOR
phine. said something more forcible
than polite and tried to make her see
the insanity OF the thing, but she only
laughed and told me she carried NOR
phine pills in her chatelaine bonbon.
Mere, so that she would be all right
if she happened to be where she
couldn't use the hypodermic, which
she preferred, I threatened to tell
her husband, but she said he knew
about it and didn't care. She didn't
bother him, and he didn't bother her.
/ went to the husband, and he merely
shrugged his shoulders and said he
never interfered with his wife. Then
l relieved my mind again and told
him what l thought of him-and now
there is one family less on my list OF
patients.
"That was an exceptional case, l
admit. Usually relatives and friends
of person who takes morphine do
everything possible to break up the
habit, but a morphine fiend is remark
able for cleverness. A great many
women who don't want any one to
know that they have the habit work
the physicions for morphine. l know
women of good family who never &c
m ore than two weeks without terrible
attacks of neuralgia or rheumatism OF
something else that causes excruciat.
ing agony. The doctor is called in
and tries to relieve the woman, but
nothing relieves her until he tries NOR.
phine. If he is clever enough to see
through the thing and too conscien
tious to help out the little farce, he
gives up the case. Another doctor Is
called in and another, until one pre-
scribes what is wanted. That's al
old, old game. Many struggling
young doctor has thought his fortune
made because wealthy woman in his
neighborhood called him in, but when
she is seriously i'll she goes back to hel
old doctor. She only wants the new