The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-20
SAYS THE DOCTORS, s:
MAKE DRUG FIENDS
The Superintendent of Chicago's
Bridewell Declares That Is
What Victims Say.

Chicago, ILL.,, Jan. 20.-After hearing
ssttconfessions from go "dope" fiends,
Superintendent Sloan, of the Bridewell,
says in his annual report that the alarm
ing increase Of slaves to drugs among
the prisoners of that institution this
year is due to a. careless and too liberal
use of the deadly stuff by physicians.
Legal medical men of the city were
indignant when the contents of the re-
port, and especially the prisoners al
legged confessions, were read to them.
at the idea of a public official and the
head! Of penal institution who could
take the words of "dope' fend in
preference to common-sense view of
the evil <-.-- =. -~rr-,
As one man the physicians seek. the
sequences to judge from. They blame
the present lax regulations Of the sale
From 300 in 1908, to go slaves this
year is the increase pointed out in
Sloan s report. -.>
''1he. many cocaine, morphine, opium,
victims thronged the cells everywhere, !"
says the report. ''Many were women,
and they almost unanimously blame
their physicians for getting them into
the habit They fell thru dependency
and bad associations: They were not
able to take dare says Superintend-
ent Sloan.
"They lose their friends and self-re-
spect, continues the report, "and they
drift, along until they are taken up bY
theEpolice and sent. here. We have had
fifteen college graduates here during the
last year.. -
""The report is amusing, provided the
superintendent takes the tame excuses
Of the prisoners Seriously said Dr., E.
j. Sena, the son. of the famous authority
on surgery and internal medicine.
?" If physicians did not let their pa
tients know the name Of the drug which
brings relief to them they would not
find their patients secretly smuggling
the drug into their systems after the
doctor s regular treatment ceases. The
men. who fall into the habit of using
drugs should blame the laN which
places the drug within their reach.
They Fail into the use of drugs Just like
people fail into the alcohol habit
DIR. g. Frank Lydston said: 81 fail
to understand how the superintenden
of prison, a man who is supposed to
have some insight into human nature,
can swallow the silly excuses of the
unfortunates in his care.
NsDope' fends were never famous
authorities on important or even insig-
hifcant subjects. The drug habit Is
not as difficult to cope with as the
drink habit. We have no laws against
alcoholic beverages as yet, but there is
law against the sale of poisons with
out prescriptions. Some wise person
has eliminated from the statutes the
most deadly of drugs, and such things
as morphine and cocaine can be bought
by any one without prescription, pro.
vided he asks for it in large quantities
and in the original package
had to write prescription for a
pellet containing morphine in compound
with another drug the other day The
scene was awell-k known downtown drug
store. Notwithstanding the strictness
moment woman, stylishly dressed
purchase bottle containing quarter.
grain morphine tablets without ques-
tion being asked of her. Even if the
petty sales can be curtailed by law, the
fends will chip together and go in for
wholesale purchases.
Dr. Charles Gilbert Davis said: The
only effective step against the increas.
ing drug evil is to lerislate. Druggists
are not all angels, and competition will
make men do many things. Those who
are mentioned in. the Bridewell report
perhaps never had a single atom OF
poison prescribed for them. They fall
among other fends. The law throws
the source for the drugs wide open, the
police have very little power to steI
in, and there you are. Those who arc
given opiates or narcotics by their phy
sicians are usually well cared for unit
all symptoms demanding stimulants are
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