Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-05-02


a drug. The clerk WORKING at a
bench beside the open door was sepa-
rating the larger packages into MALT
ounce lots. A casual observer,
wearied with watching the moving
brown of the stream, turned idly to
the slow-moving workman. "Whac
have you got there?" he inquired.
Cocaine was the response. Its
selling like wildnre all up and down
the valley. The negroes are taking
up the habit fast, though the stuff
costs two cents a grain"
The use of cocaine, despite the
fact that it is 4 comparatively new
form OF vice, has swept rapidly
through Chicago to st. Louis, and
tnence by way of the shores Of the
Mississippi to the sea. The habit
has grown so in Chicago as to be-
come in the words of police officer
the greatest evil in the world" Pc
Ice sations are thronged with these
helpless wretches, who are found in
sodden sleep in Railways, alleys ana
under sidewalks-any anywhere they
chance to fall When they awake
their howls and pleadings for the
drug are pitiful The habit is grow
ing rapidly and gradually extending
into higher grade of society.
On our eastern coast New York
and Baltimore are becoming stirred
by recent disclosures of the extent
of the evil ard of the deadly conse-
quences which follow in it's train.
surely here is menace which war.
rants a careful examination of the
conditions both as regards the vice
itself and also as regards the extent
to which it has spread through
oston and vicinity.
With the use of cocaine comes y
distinct weakening of the moral
forces. No drug has greater power
as a moral reducer. The will to
break away from the clutches of the
habit is weakened, and only in very
few cases does the confirmed taker
of cocaine escape. The will like the
nerves, is shattered. The word Of
the sufferer can in no way be depend
ed upon. Wild iD,aginations take the
place of fact and the victim lives in
a fantastic world of his own.
The fact that seems more difficult
to break off the cocaine habit than
Tie morphine habit is said by some IT,
be due to the fact that it rs harder
to cease the use of substance which
stimulates than one which stupefies.
Nothing better could illustrates th,,
difficulties that the story of one
sufferer who, in his endeavor 20
break of the habit, started away on
six months cruise, taking a shin
which touched nowhere from It's
point of departure to its destination.
He took with him only enough CO.
came to enable him to taper Off
gradually. This man successfully ac.
/ complished the trying ordeal of self.
denial on shipboard. lived for fou,.
months without cocaine, and during
the whole of the latter Fart OF M,
voyage not only lost all craving for
the drug, but believed himself entire.
~ cured. Scarcely had he gone on
shore Ian he found himself rushing
at top speed toward a drug store.
All the struggle had be- n vain
"hd ne was lost. Story after st v
oi like sort could be told of those
who have become thoroughly en-
meshed and tried vainly to escap.,
only In the earlier stages of the
nabit is success probable. Indeed The
hapitue viii resort to almost any
no.ns to obtain the desired stimu.
! iant Among other places this ba
been noticed in hospital clinics
where minor surgical operations arc
commonly necessary There the
poverty-stricken cocaine user occas.
iohaiiy appears as a malingerer. He
complains of some slight difficu,ty
which may involve cutting and the
use or a local application of cocaine
and SO ne gets at least single dose
OF the stimulant w.-.ch he Graves
Inc physiological effects of this
drug bring the dangers of the vice
swiftly home to the observer Thu
man who takes cocaine is a more
fearful spectacle than is his fellow
victim of the opium habit. since ths
shattered nerves in the former case
give more external evidence than
does the stupefaction induced in the
latter. The user of cocaine tho
coke fiend' as he is termed. is nrac.
ucaiiy always exhilirated and rarely
is that nervous depression felt which
comes from many other drugs. Ru,
in proportion to his exhiliration are
It's consequences. A steadily in.
-creasing paralysis comes upon the III
treated nervous system. caused nv
the physiological action on the
nerves. Briefly this action is that
OF protoplasmic poison which para.
Yves the end plates Of the nerves
and blocks up the manifold entrances
OF the senses. So completely does
this barring of the nerve road taks
pace that, after a time sensation eaa
no longer be transmitted through tha
oarricade and the whole nervous svs.