Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-12-18
rnE GROWING DRUG HABIT

DIR. T. ID. Crothers, IN the NeW w"
sun. calls attention TO the fact that the
use Of drugs Is growing alarmlngly IN
this country The war against intern
perenoe has not resulted In abstinence
from posons as injurious to the hui
man system as alcohol. A committee
OF pharmacists appointed to Inquire In
TO this subject has found that the IN
creased demand for cocaine In the last
Ave years has been over 400 per cent,
while the sale OF morphia and opium
during this time have increased 900 per
cent. The normal increase OF the use OF
these drugs for legitimate purposes
during this period would be less than
20 per cent, II Is claimed, hence this
enormous difference indicates a new
and unknown use Of those drags.
Reports from physicians In various
parts OF the country corroborate this
conclusion OF the committee. They
show that the drugs mentioned are
used with increasing frequency Hospi-
tails and sanitarlums are called on TO
treat these cases, and often they COM
prise O considerable percentage OF all
the cases treated. Physicians In pri-
vate practice discover the secret drug
habits among their patients, and spe-
cihc drugs for certain states are more
numerous and widely advertised in the
journals and magazines Of the day.
The doctor thinks that the strains,
drains, and exhaustIons which follow
the fight for existence, as life now IL,
are responsible for these vices. Re-
lief he says, Is sought In narcotics
sleeplessness results from overexerton,
and the victim win perhaps turn to
opium, and become addicted to that
drug. Nervous exhaustion" he con-
tInues from bad living. overwork,
underworld. excitement, bad nutrition,
want Of training, occupation, bad par
entage, faulty growths In early life, and
so on, are the main causes for drug
taking and narcotisnn in early and mid
die life. Many men and women are
born with faulty and feeble resisting
pain centers. They cannot endure suf-
ferlng, iisappointments and losses;
hence they turn to drugs and spirits for
relief. The real fault Is in the family,
in the parents. in the training and sur
roundings, Many young man and
woman goes out from the home with a
heavy entailment of disability and In
ability TO meet the losses and crosses
common to every day life. They be-
come spirit and drug takers, with and
without much temptation, and are
early wrecked"
This is no doubt correct, although Il
would be difficult to account In the
same way. for the opium habit among
the Chinese, who live primitive exist
ence, as different as possible from that
OF American life with its hurry and ex-
element. It Is quite clear that forces
are always at work endeavoring to de-
grade the human family morally and
physically, and cause Its destruction,
and that development toward perfec-
ton can be secured only through
constant struggle against those evil
forces, That IL the Lesson of national,
as OF individual experience. That Is the
lesson Of the growing use Of all
kinds Of narcotics. notwithstanding the
knowledge that It brings ruin. Our
people Is very much concerned about
physical culture, to insure healthy
physique. but unles more stress is laid.
both in homes and in schools. upon
moral training, vice will more than un-
do that which is sought to be attained
through the training Of the muscles.