Evening star., 1902-02-25
GROWTH OF DRUG HABIT
PRACTICE INTO WHICH ENG
LANDERS ARE FALLING.
Dangerous "Pick-Me-Ups" - Evils Of
Some Tabloid Preparations
Cocaine and Ether.
Vrom the London Mail.


II the ranks of our English novelists and
playwrights contained single realist of
close observation and genuine strength. he
would do his country great service by
Showing, in play or novel, how Englishmen
and women are running their health and
discounting that of the generations to come
by the reckless persistence with which they
indulge in all sorts of promiscuous drugs
and pick-me-ups. The prevalence Of the
habit is not denied by those who have made
even the most casual observations; for an
understanding of its pernicious and inevita-
bic results little more thought is needed.
Walking down Fleet street in the COM
pany of a man who seemed In complete
health. | was startled by his remark, We
ist."
DO you keep a tame chemist to supply
you with perennial corn plaSterS and tooth
brushes" l asked.
"Of course not" he said, petulantly. as
one whose serious malady is being treated
fippantly: Il always go there for my pick
me-up in the morning"
/ "And why do you want pick-me-ups every
morning. / demanded. There's moth
ing wrong with you, except that you smoke
too much and drink more than you need"
! 1T isn't that, he said; but one feels
30 beastly limp, you know. and this chap
understands my constitution so we'll
; little inquiry among other friends
.
/ too, had their own particular chemists, on
! whom they relied to correct the indiscre-
/, tions of the previous night and to restore
to them their matutinal glory.
To a Mans Moral Center.
II believe that OF all the distinguished
men you could name in any profession
! said man, who plainly spoke of what
he knew. more than so per cent are ad-
dicted to drugs of some kind. No, you
needn't look incredulous; I'm talking Of
facts. not generalzing hastily.
. Il 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 fort
night or so. and buys a bottle of cocaine
solution as big as this''-he touched huge
cut glass decanter 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 be-
mind the counter for a moment to inject
cocaine into his leg. A third, a 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. An
bther-a doctor. too-whO depends on CO.
came Tor all his energy. is a source of con-
-stant amusement to us by his excuses for
the amount OF cocaine he gets through
. An hour or two after he has bought one
bottle he comes back and says he must
have pulled it out with his handkerchief
di'l dTopptu III, or tEat he mas had two
three cases in succession that needed it, or
something equally futile. They all become
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 Women? oh, yes. hundreds of them
E.ther' eau de cologne. cocaine, chlorodyne.
W hat can you expect from the rate at
Whlch d woman has to live in society? If
YOU knew how often the silver-topped bot
Ties in ladies' dressing bags hold ether in
stead of scent you'd be a little astonished."
That sounds pretty bad" I said But
do You seriously say that the ractice ia
much on the fncrease?"
Indiscriminate Dosing.
Certainly 1t is. 1t is growing steadily,
and things have got much worse since the
introduction of these tabloid medicines
though this. of course. applies more to in
discriminate dosing than to the practice of
taking the few powerful drugs 1 was speak
Ing OF. People dose themselves according
TO the one or two obvious symtoms, which
are generally misleading. and off they rush
10 buy bottle of tabloids and probably
DO themselves good deal of injury. But
some OF the tabloids are really dangerous
when taken indiScriminately.
These things, for instance that contain
strychnine and iron and qunine-I always
make purchasers sign the poison book for
.neml. put plenty of chemists are not so
scrupuious. People buy and take them by
the dozen. with the result that their sys-
tems get fuH of Strychnine, the arterial
pressure Is increased. with a probable re-
sultant danger of aneurism. and they keep
themselves In constant state of mental
excitement and irritation
Inc same doctor spoke bitterly of the
evils of the tabloid drugs "A bad hnsinass
for the doctors" he said, frankly. '.but IT'S
thousand times worse for the nublic
People get a half dozen sorts Of tabloids
and take them the least provocatjon
and without at all knowing their properties
You can imagine how soon ones constitu-
ton may be ruined like that"
Maude-"When you refused him my hand