The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-01
The DANGERS OF COCAINE
PHYSICIANS, SURGEONS AND sPE-
CIALIsTs EXPRESS VIEWS.
Drug Has It's Uses but Should Not Be
Out of Professional Hands-Risk
of Using 1t rs Spray.

The recent suicide of one well-known
physician and the commitment OF announcer
to an asylum for the insane, the results
in both cases directly traceaole 10 the
cocaine habit, have brought tnat drug
again into prominence, and people are leu
to wonder how far cocaine may be useo
with safety since its value in certain cases
is beyond dispute. 1t is case In Whlch
the doctors disagree only in minor par
tculars, and all declare strongly against
its frequent or indscriminate use.
A general statement of the uses and
dangers of cocaine would be trite and
would convey little knowledge not already
possessed by the majority of intelligent
people, but the specific statements OF
specialists in various departments OF meoi-
cine and surgery present new phases OF the
subject and give the reader a more definite
comprehension of both the good and the
bad effects of the drug than could be
gained in any other way.
Among the friends of the drug-always
If rightly used-are those who make
speciality Of treating the eye, ear, nose and
throat. A prominent and successful spe-
cialist in this line says:
I'm eye work cocaine is extensively and
effectually used to deaden the sense of
performed are much more successful than
when ordinary anaesthetics are used. With
the latter there is usually an attending
nausea and violent retching, which the
cocaine does away with entirely. Cataracts
are removed from the ball Of the eye and
growths from the lids without pain, most
remarkable achievement when the delicacy
of the organ operated upon is considered.
| Of
atoms upon the throat and nose. These
sprayed with cocaine, which produces
numbing effect, and the tonsils may be
removed or other parts operated upon with
| out the of a general anaesthetic.
WHERE THE DANGER LIES.
at have never known patient to become
addicted to the cocaine habit if the drug
| is applied by a surgeon. It's repeated use
by the patient, as spray for the nose or
| throat, as in cases of hay fever or catarrh,
| is very unwise. The first effect is one of
great relief and even of exhilaration, but
| the dose can be repeated but few times
before it creates a demand for a continued
use, and the patient finds himself victim
| of the drug.
| Personally, I never write a prescription
! for cocaine in any form. If the case re-
quires its use supply the medicine myself
| and never give its name prescription
| may be filled and refilled, and if patient
learns what drug he is taking he will find
| some means of obtaining more If he
| Graves it.
Cocaine has a wonderful effect in re-
| lieving hay fever and catarrh, but the
| dangers. attending its use for these dis
eases, such as a periodic spraying of the
nose or throat, is too great to allow any
60 H.
! use of the patient. There proprietary
remedies UPON the market advertised to
relieve hay fever and kindred troubles,
which contain cocaine. and too emphatic
a warning can scarcely be sounded with
| regard to the danger of using these snuffs
and similar preparations, the ingredients
| of which are not known to the user.
FL consider cocaine one of the greatest
| discoveries of the century, but when it's
! legitimate uses are abused it becomes a
curse"
The physicians and surgeons interviewed
were all leading representatives of their
profession.
| ITS EFFECTS VARY.
1.-THE great danger from the administra-
ton of cocaine, said the first, lis the
liability of the patients acquiring the CO.
| caine habit-the most serious drug habit
| that can be acquired. since cocaine de-
| stroys both the mental and the physical
powers in a much shorter time than
| whisky, morphine or any other toxic
| agent. There is always certain amount
| of danger in it's use, since some people
| cannot bear even slight use of it, and
the experiment alone reveals who those
| people are. This was proved in my own
experience. A very small amount of CO.
in, Of II
tanned consciousness. but lost all power
of moving. and it took all day for me to
get over it's effects. If the usual dose had
been administered to me it would have
! killed me.
| Another danger in surgery is the use of
cocaine to deaden pain and, that failing.
as it will with individuals following
the cocaine with chloroform This is a
| particularly dangerous combination, and
kills children very promptly.
Cocaine is, however, a very valuable
and useful drug, and it is used more and
more each year. l have q patient in mind
now who has heart trouble so badly that
it would be highly dangerous to administer
| an anaesthetic, and yet an operation is
necessary. In that case the cocaine can
be administered locally and the danger will
be very slight.
lone of the latest uses of the drug is
| in spinal cocainizaton. Cocaine is injected
| into the spinal chord, with the result that
all feeling in the lower part of the body is
| lost. This condition lasts from one and
a half to two hours and enables the sur
geon to perform difficult and tedious opera
! tions. This use of the drug is an expert
/ ment yet, however, and surgeons are pro-
ceeding with caution along this line.
I'm single local applications there is no
danger of the patient forming the cocaine
habit; it is only by repeated applications
| or more especially by using it a spray
with some regularity that the habit is
formed. 1t is, nevertheless, very seduc-
tive drug and overcomes persons of ap-
parently strong character and firm mental
poise"
Another says:
II consider cocaine an exceedingly useful
drug. Its chief is as a local anaesthesia
for small operations. 1t should be admin
istered in small quantities, however. and
with extreme caution. In some cases its
i'll effects are delayed, so that the patient
may leave the doctors office in apparent
perfect health, and before he reaches home
fall in faint. The symptoms IN these cases
are alarming and look dangerous, but they
are usually quickly recovered from. It's in
ternal use is extremely limited. When