Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-18
GAMBLING WITH MEDICINES
oculators Enrich Themselves at the
Expense Of Sick Humanity.
PRICE OF DRUGS ATFlclMrY RAISED
Henrtless Combines Fitch Money from
the Pockets Of the Afflicted
How the Game is worked
and the Results.


Reporter presents in the New York indie
pendent an instructive account drawn
from his experience Of the methods Of
drug spectators, by which the prices of
drugs necessary to the sick are artincially
raised and huctuated for the benefit of
the spectators. He says, in part:
There are many cases OF sickness in
which the physician prescribes a certain
medicine the place Of which nothing else
can take. The saving of hundreds Of
human lives depends, therefore, upon the
unrestrained supply of the cardinal drugs
of pharmacy.
And yet two attempts to Corner
opium are part Of the history of the
drug trade, and speculation in this drug
is as rampant today as ever. How vital
a drug opium is may be seen from the
following description Of Its medicinal
properties, as given in the United states
Dispensatory:
opium relieves pain more speedily and
enectually than any other medicine taken
into the human stomach. If possessed
of no other property than this II would
be entitled to a high consideration. Not
to mention cancer and other instances
of painful disease which are not only
temporarily relieved, but entirely cured by
the remedy, there Is scarcely a complaint
in the catalog of human ailments in the
treatment Of which it is not occasionally
demanded for the relief Of suffering,
which, If allowed to continue, might ag-
gravate the disorder and protract, If not
prove a cure"
Evidence of n Combine.
That the spectators think no less OF
opium than the physicians is conclusively
proven by the fact that some years
eli oil
week from $4.67h to 81 a pound. The
present wholesale market" price Is
twice that of 1892 and 10 per cent higher
than in the early part of the year. AS an
explanation for this continual fluctuation
in the price of opium. the spectators
have recourse to the threadbare phase
of the lay Of demand and supply and the
uncertainty Of the opium crop in Turkey,
from which country all medicinal opium
comes. Both explanations are not valid.
During the past eighteen years a total of
l14,530 cases Of opium have been grown in
Turkey, an average of $3.50 cases year.
The worlds demand is between $500 and
5000 cases a year at the most, so that,
a sa matter of fact, there is a consld-
cradle surplus of the supply over the de-
mand Millions have been made and
lost in opium speculation, and it is not
market reports Of the drug trade papers
that stocks of opium are well concen-
trated," which means in effect that II
an epidemic were TO cause large demand
aafor opium, the price of saving human
lives would be arbitrarily fixed by one or
two spectators.
While there is in New York no regular
drug exchange, such as that in Mincing
Lane, London, the spectators are kept
in touch with one another through the
medium of brokers who execute buying
and selling orders for drugs much as the
Wall street broker does for stocks and
bonds. Without fear of contradiction, the
broad statement can be made that not a
single crude drug passes into the hands
of the druggist on the basis Of cost plus
a legitimate profit, as one would suppose.
That hazy institution, "the drug market"
which is dominated by speculative inter-
ests, dictates what you shall pay to get
well, If you are sick.
Corners ina QuInine.
In some instances the bears" have
been known to worst the bulls" Quinine
today sells wholesale at 141a cents an
ounce. Some years ago the market price
was So an ounce. Allowing for the % per
cent duty which was then imposed on
quinine, as well for the comparatively
slight decrease In the cost OF manufac-
ture there still remains a difference OF
several dollars an ounce between the pres
emit price OF Quinine and that of twenty
five years ago. Into whose pockets did
those 50 or 50, for each ounce Of qulnine
traded, flow? Largely into those of spec
ulators. And who paid them? The suf-
ferer from fever or malaria AS late as
five years ago quinine was quoted at twice
its present price and yet the cost of man
ufacturing was no greater than today.
A London Spectator who figured that
Nuinine would go up bought 100000 ounces
"a year or so ago. His losses TO date
= amount to $4,000. but he is still holding
the 100000 ounces for rise. they say
in Wall street parlance.
Cod liver oil may be appropriately
termed a poor mans medicine. It is one
OF the most valuable allies which the
physician has In fighting or at least pre-
venting the spread OF the white mans
plague, consumption. This years yield
OF Norwegian cod liver oil is Is per cent
larger than that OF 1901, but quotations
are % per cent higher and the bulls
prophesy stin further advances
When measles are epidemic, American
saffron flowers are a much sought after
drug. A few years ago these flowers were
quoted at 80 cents a pound The preva-
lenCe OF measles caused the bulls" TO take
kindly interest in the drug, and they
sent the price to S1.35. A short time age
the bears" had their inning, and for a
time so cents was the prevailing quota
tion. At the present time the spectators
rejoice in what they are pleased 10 call
"a recovery Of values; a bad time for
your little ones to get the measles!
Cocaine, the most popular anesthetic OF
= the present day. was recently taken IN
tow by the bears" and, as a result, quo,
tatlons are about half OF what they were
i've years ago, on the other hand, the
bulls have doubled the price OF cascara
sagrada, a drug that many practitioner,
consider as the most valuable laxative
known 70 medicine.
The most high-handed maneuver in re,
M nn