The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1902-05-31
GROWTH or DRUG HABIT.
PRACTICE INTO WHICH ENG
LNNDERs ARE FALLING.

) oanqerou& "Pick-Me .Ups"-EviIs o
y Some Nabioiu Preparations-ce
III caine AID Ether-Taies Tha
' Make Yoag Hair Stand on End.
If the ranks a our English novelist
and playwright contained singh
fealist of close ob4ervation and genu
line strength. he wdilid do his countr.
a great service byt showing. in pla!
or novel, how EngHshmen md wo
men are running their\ health nd dis
counting that of the generations tt
, come by the reckless persistence will
which they indulge in all sorts o
lpromiscuous drugs and p}ckme-ups
The prevalence of the habit is not de
MED by those who have made ever
the most casual observations; for ar
understanding of It's pernicipus ani
inevitable results little more Thought
lis needed. Walking down | Flee,
street in the company of ma who
seemed in complete health, j was
tstartled by his remark, as we passed
La chemists shop; "That's my tchem,
list"
DO you keep a tame chemist to
supply you with perennial corn plast'
ers and tooth brushes?" I asked.
"of course not" he said, petulantly,
as one whose serious malady is, being
treated flippantly; Il always go there
for my pick-me-up in the morning"
"And why do you want pfck-me-
lups every morning." | demanded.
I@There's nothing wrong with you ex-
cept that you smoke too muc CHI and
drink more than you need"
st isn't that" he said, "but one
feels so beastly limp, you know. and
this chap understands my constitu-
ton so WELL"
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 distin-
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.
II 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. tod who depends on cocaine
for all hishcnergy, is a source of con-
slant amusement to us by his excuses
for the amount of cocaine he gets
through.
IAN 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 it, 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 20 go straight |
to 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 little astonished."
THAT sounds pretty bad" | said,
But do you seriously say that the |
practice is much on the increase?"
Certainly it is. II is growing
steadily, and things have got much
worse since the introduction of these
tabloid medicines, though this, of |
course, applies more to fndiscriminate
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
a good deal of injury. But
some of the tabloids are really danger
GUS when taken unfortunately.
These things, for instance, that
contain strychnine and iron and quiz
nine-I always make purchasers sign
the poison book for them, but plenty
Of chemists are not so scrIpulous.
People buy and take them by the
dozen. with the result that their sys-
ems get full of strychnine, the arterial
pressure is increased, with prob
able resultant danger of aneurism. and
hey keep themselves in constant
state of mental excitement and irri-
alton"
The same doctor spoke bitterly of
he evils of the tabloid drugs. "a I
lad business for the DOCTORS" he said, ;
rankly, but it's a thousand times
worse for the public. People get a ;
lalf dozen sorts of tabloids and take I
hem on the least provocation, and ;
without at all knowing their proper
les. You can imagine how soon ones
constitution may be ruined like that"
London Mail.