Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-29

Some of the pipes are decorated with
barbaric ornamentation and others are
similar to two joints of the ordinary
tish-pole: their cost ranges from 81 to
$500. according to material, workman
ship and decoration. The next rcquis-
lite is small glass-encased lamp in
which palm oil is burned. Besides
these things, the smoker must have q
wire instrument shaped like knitting
needle and blunt knife to scrape the
burned opium from the bowl when the
"pill'' has been smoked.
The preparation for smoking consists
in dipping the needle which is techni-
cally termed "yen-hock" in the gum
opium and twirling it about until
enough remains on the needle to sat
isfy the smoker. He then holds it over
the flame of the little lamp and turns
it round and round until a good portion
OF the moisture of the opium has been
driven off by the heat. The smoker
presses the pill upon the surface of the
bowl and shapes it into cylindrical
form. Finally when the condition of
the pill suits the smoker he sticks the
point OF the needle into the hole in the
center of the bowl and the opium adj
| heres to the surface so readily that the
| operator is enabled to draw out the
needle. Then he turns the bowl over
the flame of the lamp and with a long
| inhalation draws the bubbling fumes
deep into his lungs. The operation is
very brief as the pill is usually entirely
burned up in fifteen seconds.
| The taste of the opium is very similar
1 hllrnlnyr Ifn,
has been made the smoker lazily turns
on his side and picks up the knife and
scrapes the remnants of the pill from
the bowl. The burned substance is
sailed 'yen-she" and when it has ac-
cumulated in quantity of an ounce of
more it is sold to the devotees of opium
who are too poor to smoke the pure
stuff.
| The effect of the fumes of opium diff
| ferS widely in different individuals. 1t
| is Supplying and nauseating to the be-
ginner and sedative and stimulating to
the oldtimer. The dreams that are
commonly supposed to attend the use of
| the drug exist only in the minds of
persons who have not tried it. The i'm
mediate effect is to cause the weight of
mental and physical affliction to slip
away from the subject and at the same
time to stimulate the senses SO that
impressions from outside appear to
have an exaggerated force. This con-
dition is followed by a deathly sleep
from which the smoker aWakes to find
his burden even heavier to bear than
before his indulgence. The logical
outcome of the habit is first crime, and
then death nv Sniri0p
The hypodermic 'fiends' are more
numerous than the smokers, but the
course of their career is far briefer.
Cocaine and morphine are the two
drugs most commonly used. The gun
man" or light artillery man is very
rarely a smoker or opium, and the
opium smoker is never a whisky
drunkard.
The internal users of drugs include
persons from every class. The society
woman who drinks cologne and uses
patent medicines prepared with opium
and alcohol or who uses the drugs
directly, is in this class the same as
the brokendOWn negress who shifts
cocaine and the individual who takes d
little styrchnine for his heart.
Physicians say that the use of drugs
is growing with civilization, and in
proof of their assertion they point to
the fact that the medical fraternity
and druggists furnish very palpable
section of the drug degenerates.