Pocahontas star herald., 1912-10-25
fIahtlnu The Deadly Habits

m America showing people now
,bey may fight the drug aud alcohol
Aabis. Following Is an extracts
Towns looked about him aud saw
= world .olicn with alcohol d'z'd
With drugs and bofuddled with to-.
h,eoo. lie saw the terrific pressure
Of commercial need and greed drlN
ipg these habits in upon rs from
Uey quarter, lie saw that many
druggists wera feeding the resulting
abnormal desires almost with i'm
puni,v. He saw physicians casual
N employing alcohol whore 1t was
neither indicated nor needed and
having IN their wake a gloomy
ian Of morphinists-many OF these
latter actually victims Of the hypo'
aeimio syriu ges left in their hands
by physlelans. lie gathered inior
na.ion regarding conditions IN the
,o.oalled prohibition states, and was
blmself astonished by what he found.
Tie saw, all about him, men and
Somen going down under this
soourge. lie saw nervous women'
and astonishing number Of them,
Aabitually taking troinal, sulional,
Tcronal, aud the other coal tar
derivatives and commonly under.
lhe impression that no bad habit.
Eould result. Many were even so.
informed by physicians. And he
coined the phase-driying a hard
6st into the palm of the other mus
sular hand by way OF emphasis-I
tell you, anything that acts like an
0piate Is an opiate'
LIe saw that nearly every one OF
Iie more than SIX thousand cases
,hst had passed under his own OBJ
evation had a history Of excessive
tobacco smoking. lie saw man
after man, discharged from his hos.
pital and free from desire for his
fatal stimnlant, resume tobacco
smoking and thus lay the founda'
mons for a n, lapse. Aud be laugh
ei the phrase-'smoking is always
> bad thing, and inhaling tobacco
s Just as injurious as moderate
epium smokingP
He saw thousands Of misguided
mn and women, particularly among
ibe lower classes, take TO cocaine to
lOo,he their nerves and stimulate
,5eiI jaded faculties. lie studied
these cases for years. He arrived
II a conclusion, summed up
70 the phrase-'Cocaine provides the
shortest cut to the insane asylum.
II takes them there across lots"
Tie saw sentimentalists and ex
IRENE reIigionists trying TO reform
lbe fallen by appeals to a confused
and warped moral sense. lie
studied these cases. lie arrived at
she conclusion that it is unfair aud
useless to appeal to diseased mind.
Die gave up wasting words on
them. The time to talk he saio,
Eis after the meli cal treatment is
snished. What's the use? They
aren't themselves. Their minds
Sne muddied and twisted. Got to
get that twist out first"
A great many Of his cases came
10 him after history of years in
anateriums AID institutions.
Many had spent long terms of years
and tens of thousand Of dollars in
lbe pitiful struggle. In practically
avery case 1t was story Of attempt
81 substitution of stlmulants or
gradual reduction of the dose.
And in practically every case it had
been so much a week, with extras
Towns saw into all ,his-saw all
around it and behind it, and arrived
A. several conclusions. On3 was
that withdrawal and reduction are
DeTer cures. Such treatment may
even be dangerous, particularly in
tie case Of a confirmed alcoholic or
Dorpbinist. The first step must be
medical obliteration of the crav-
mg.