Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-09-24
ed to produce the result-an excellent

ali judgment ana I'LL sense Oh pTOpOT-
tion.
Against this appalling habit, which
can be acquired easily and naturally
and the result of which is always COM
plete decentralization, there is at pres
ent no effective safeguard except that
provided by nature itself, and this Is
effective only in certain cases.
1t happens that in many people OPT
alone has saved some from the habit,
for this type Of addict never expert
ences any Of the temporary soothing
sensations commonly attributed to the
drug. Yet this pitiful natural safe
guard, while rarely operative, is more
efflcacious than any other that up to
the present time has been provided by
man In his heedlessness, indifference
and greed.
The important habit-forming drugs
are opium. cocaine and the small but
dangerous group of "hypnotics." These
last-trional, veronal, sulphonal, medi-
nal, etc.-are chiefly coal tar products,
and are not always classified as habit
forming drugs, but they are such, and
there are many reasons why the sale
Of them should be scrupulously regu-
lated. The opium derivatives go un-
der the general head Of narcotics.
Morphine is the active principle, and
codeine and heroin are the chief de-
rivatives Of opium. Codeine Is one
eighth the strength Of morphine; hero
in Is three times as strong as NOR
phine.
Though the general impression Is
otherwise, the users of these two drugs
acquire the habit as quickly and as
easily as If they took morphine. Many
cough and asthama preparations con-
tain heroin simply for temporary allie
Walton, since like opium 1t has no Gu
rative power whatever. From time to
time have had to treat cases of he
roin taking, in which the victims had
thought to satisfy their need for an
opiate without forming habit. In the
cases where it was given by prescrip-
tion, it was so given by the physician
in the sincere belief that it would not
create a habit.
All this despite the fact that heroin
is three times stronger than morphine
and despite the fact that physicians
know that anything which will do the
work Of an opiate Is an opiate. Code
inc. Notwithstanding the fact that 1t
is weaker than morphine, is likewise
habit-forming; yet doctors prescribe
1t on account Of its relative mildness,
even though they know that it is the
cumulative effect of continued doses,
and not to the quantity of morphine in
the dose, which results in the habit
AS with morphine, to use either Of
these drugs effectively means in the
long run the necessary increase Of the
dose up to the limit Of physical toler-
ance.
The most harmful Of all habit
forming drugs is cocaine. Nothing SO
quickly deteriorates its victim or pro-
vides so short a cut to the asylum for
the insane. 1t differs from opium in
two important ways, A man does not
acquire habit from cocaine in the
sense that 1t is virtually impossible for
him to leave 1t off without medical
treatment. He can do 30, although he
rarely does. On withdrawal, he expe-
riences only an intense and horrible
der ;ssion, together with a physical
languor which results in a sleepiness
that cannot be shaken off.
Opium withdrawal, on the other
hand, results in sleeplessness and ex-
treme nervous and physical disorder.
In action, too, cocaine is an extreme
stimulant. It's stimulus wears off
quickly and leaves a corresponding de-
preston, but it confers half an hour
Of capability of intense effort. That is
why bicycle riders. prize fighters and
race horses are often doctored, or
"doped" with cocaine. When cocaine
gives out; its victim invariably resorts
to alcohol for stimulus; alcoholics,
however, when deprived Of alcohol
generally drift into the use Of NOR
phine.-Century.