The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-06-21
GROWTH OF DRUG HABIT.
PRACTICE INTO WHICH ENG
LANDERS ARE FALLING.
Dangerous "Pick-Me-Up Ups"-Evils OF
Some Tabloid Preparations-Co-
caine and Ether-Tales That
Make Your Hair Stand on End.

some Tabloid PreparatIonS-Co-
| caine and Ether-Tales That
Make Your Hair Stand on End.
If the ranks of our English novelists
and playwrights contained a single
realist Of close observation and genu-
| inc strength. he would do his country
a great service by showing, in play
or novel, how Englishmen and wo-
men are running their health and dis
| counting that of the generations to
| come by the reckless persistence with
which they indulge in all sorts of
| promscuous drugs and pick-me-ups.
| The prevalence of the habit is not de-
| MED by those who have made even
| the most casual observations; for an
| understanding of it's pernicious and
inevitable results little more thought
| is needed Walking down Fleet
street in the company of man who
| seemed in complete health. | was
startled by his remark, as we passed
chemists shop; That's my chem
ist."
do you keep a tame chemist to
| supply you with perennial corn plast-
ers and tooth brushes?" l asked
"Of course not" he said. petulantly,
| as one whose serious malady is being
| treated f1ippantly; Il always go there
| for my pick-me-up in the morning.
"And why do you want pickme-
ups every morning.? | demanded.
There's nothing wrong with you ex-
cept that you smoke too much and
drink more than you need
1T isn't that" he said. "but one
feels so beastly limp. you know, and
this chap understands my constitu-
tion so we'll"
A little inquiry among other friends
served to convince me that most of
them. too, had their own particular
chemists. on whom they relied to cor
rect the indiscretions of the previous
night and to restore to them their
matutinal glory.
Il believe that of all the distn-
guished men you could name in any
profession" said one man who plain
ly spoke of what he knew, more than
fifty per cent are addicted to drugs of
some kind. No. you needn't look in
credulous; I'm talking of facts, not
generalizing hastily.
81 could tell you tales that would
make your hair stand on end.
"a man was in here an hour ago,
whose name you know, who comes in
every fortnight or so, and buys bot
tie Of cocaine solution as big as this"
-he touched huge cut glass decan-
ter of perfume. He has his doctors
prescription all right, so we can do
nothing. Another comes in at all
sorts of times, and asks leave to come
behind the counter for moment to
inject cocaine into his leg. A third,
big west end doctor. is always rushing
here, or to whatever chemists shop
he finds himself nearest to when he
is tired, and gets some one to inject
strychnine into his arm. Another-a
doctor, too-who depends on cocaine
for all his energy. is a source of con-
stant amusement to us by his excuses
for the amount of cocaine he gets
through.
can hour or two after he has
bought one bottle he comes back and
says he must have pulled it out with
his handkerchief and dropped 1t, or
that he has had two or three cases
in succession that needed it, or some
thing equally futile. They all be-
come liars, these cocaine takers, for
these drugs all seem to go straight
to a mans moral center and destroy
his sense Of truth and honor. Wo-
men? Oh, yes, hundreds Of them.
Ether, eau de cologne, cocaine, chloro-
odyne. What can you expect from
the rate at which a woman has to live
in society? If you knew how often
the silver-topped bottles in ladies'
dressing bags hold ether instead of
scent you'd be a little astonished."
THAT sounds pretty bad / said,
"But do you seriously say that the
practice is much on the ipcrease?"
'Certainly it is. It is growing
Stedully, duu tHlHSS nave 6OI
worse since the introduction of these
tabloid medicines, though this, of
course, applies more to indiscriminate
dosing than to the practice Of taking
the few powerful drugs l was speak
ing of. People dose themselves ac-
cording to the one or two obvious
symptoms, which are generally mis-
leading, and off they rush to buy
bottle of tabloids, and probably do
themselves a good deal of injury. But
some of the tabloids are really danger
Gus when taken indiscriminately.
These things. for instance. that
contain strychnine and iron and qui-
nine-E always make purchasers sign
the poison book for them, but plenty
of chemists are not so scrupulous.
People buy and take them by the
dozen, with the result that their sys-
tens get full of strychnine the arteral
pressure is increased, with prob
able resultant danger of aneurism, and
they keep themselves in a constant
state of mental excitement and irri-
fatiOn"