The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1907-02-08
The Cocaine Habit.

| The Aberdeen Examiner, in reprodu-
cling the recent comments of The Record
on the cocaine evil, says in connection:
why is it that the pulpit, so eloquent
in its denunciatOn Of the saloons, which
have existed in all but Mahometan coun-
tries, since the dawn of civilization are
silent as regards this new born monster
that is responsible for almost every hor-
ror that is expeiated nowadays on the
improvised scaifold or at the stake?
If the sale of cocaine can be arrested
among the negroes and a certain class
of whites, crime will be robbed of most
Of its votaries."
The cocaine habit is growing and
something must be done 10 suppress
the sale oft. In speaking of ''Whiskey
drunks" and what is termed cocaine
drunks" a policeman in Vicksburg said
the other day that there was vast
difference, though it was not apprecia-
ted by everyone. Said the policeman:
Nobody but policeman, unless it is
a physician, really appreciates the diff
ference to its full value. Of course we
have our obstreperous whiskey drunks,
just as we have our quiet. digniiied
drunkS and the weeping drunk. But
the terror of all policemen is the dope
drunk. This individual is the more
,, difficult to aadle, and. especially if he
is drunk on cocaine, which often hap
pens to be the case, Notwithstanding
the stringent state law against the sale
OF this drug. You can take man who
is drunk on whiskey and handle him
pretty well, if he shows disposition to
to be hostile, but take a dope tiend
whose combative bump is pretty well
developed, and he is the toughest custo-
mer we have to deal with. He can
hurt you, but, pound him all you may,
and it does not faze him, as the drug
has killed his sense Of feeling.
but the woman dope drunk. is
worse than the man. They all have an
artificial strength, but the woman is
like IA tigress: she fights and claws like
Il cat, and, l tell you, some of them can
hit like sledge hammer, too. dope,
| find is responsible for much of the
crime of today. 1t makes the fiend de-
void of all moral sense. and he does
things while under its influence he
would not think of doing when right.
There is great deal more of this
dope drunk in Vicksburg than the
people realize, and it continues to grow.
1t is one Of the serious problems with
which the law must contend, and the
sooner it's sale is prohibited-the law
enforced-the better
The same conditions prevail elsewhere
as at Vicksburg, and it is problem
that needs strict attention by the Off
GERS, The immense profit that is made
on this drug and the great demand for
it makes ii more difficult to restrain the
illegal sale of IT than even whiskey.
All law a bding citizens recognize the
evils of the illegal whlskey traffic, but,
that of cocaine is even worse in its ef-
fects, and the use of it is more general
than would be imagined by those who
have not noticed or thought much
about it.-Newton Record.
It could be better suppressed
than it is everywhere if the peo-
pie were in real, dead earnest
about the matter. The, victim
of the demon pays the full penal
ty and sometimes the little con-
temptible vender catches the
dickens and whole community
has a sensation.
There is great work to be
done along these lines, but the
fellow who undertakes it Will
find himself alone and very un-
popular. It has always been SO
and will be always.