The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-01-13
PASTOR BLACK
WARNS AGAINST
DRUG ADDICTION
Says It's One of Devils Most
Prolific Plans for Dragging
People Down
CIGARETTES OFTEN
FIRST STEP, HE SAYS
Pictures in Lurid COlOrs Awful
Fate of Those Enslaved
by dope"

In Bethany Presbyterian church,
Sunday evening, the pastor. DR.. j. T.
Black, gave an illustrated lecture on
Drug addiction" The speaker said
In part:
When the devil starts after a man
he uses great wisdom. BY artitice,
by twists and turns and mystic COM
binations he gradually leads men into
the manner OF life his mind designs.
Bad habits are his fayorite snares TO
trap the thoughtless. Presented IN
varied and alluring forms we accept
their pleasurable excitement. Thsn
we are soon rivited fast with shackles
OF iron. With venomous and vitriohc
reminders he constantly makes mani
fest his supremacy aid the poor VIC
Tins servitude. Beginning with silk
en- cobwebs he ends with weighty
chains. The Liliputians bound Guilt
yer as fast with the multiplied threads
as II they had used ropes. Resist
the beginning is an ancient motto
needed in our day. The folly OF the
child and or the childs parents be-
comes the vice of the youth and then
the crime OF the man.
cigarettes come under the head OF
q vile and hurtful habit. BY them
vast numbers OF Juvenile lives are
turned into debased characters and
many promising intellects are blight
ed In due time the use of cigarettes
causes feeling of depression which
the cigarette itself Is unable TO re-
lieve. Then the natural step Is to
the milder form OF alcoholic bevel-
ages. Like Rip Van Wrinkle In JEFF
ferson's play after he had sworn on
ne accepts the invitation OF beer aid
whisky, saying, Well, this time don't
count But IL does count. Down
among the nerve cells and fibres the
molecules are counting ii, registering
Il TO be used against him when the
next temptation comes
Not always, but usually the road
20 opium and cocaine Is along the
tobacco, beer and whisky path. The
source OF opium is the poppy plant.
Its original habitat Is uncertain. Not
rs some think Is China the native
home OF the giant. II was forced
upon the Chinese about 200 years ago
and has proven a blight and curse
to that empire, whose late emperor
before abdicating the throne decreed
It's doom, and II is now crime To
cultivate or grow IT, 1t Is just as
dangerous a drug for our people TO
tamper with as Il Is for the Chinese.
Our government In bulletin No. 1913,
declares that the chief active agents
OF soothing syrups are well known
TO be opium. morphine, codein, heroin,
chloroform and choral hydrate In
some combination. Then there Is
given a long list OF familiar medicines.
patent nostrums, looked upon by many
good fathers and mothers as harm
less household remedies Could they
but see the tiny graves that dot the
country as a direct result OF their use
such bottles would come down from
the shelf never TO be placed there
again.
For the older victim OF the NOR
phine habit, there comes premature
age, bones hardened so as TO be as
brittle as glass, withered skin, bleary
eyes and voice turned to metallic
rattle. And with the bodily decay a
mental. moral and spiritual degenera-
ton that drags the victim down TO
lasting hell That sacn processes or
human decay and ruin can be increas-
ed ten-fold In their intensity seems
hardly possible, but such is the case,
for the greatest annihilator OF human
mentality, morality and spirituality
the world has ever known is cocaine.
The traffic in il throughout the world
is enormous and Is increasing by
leaps and bounds year by year.
Renegade physicians and unscrup-
ulous vendors reap harvests OF dol
lars, and thousands go down to poy-
erty, misery and death because OF II.
The intoxication OF this drug is the
pinnacle OF mental excitation, and TO
continue 1t the victim Is willing 10
barter away not only his earthly pos
sessions but his very soul.
THE devil is doing a great work
through drug addiction. The path Is
easy but the end Is death. The poor
victims can no more help themselves
than those suffering from rheumatism
or typhoid fever In their sane mo-
ments they hate and abdominate these
destroyers OF all that makes life
precious They do not follow these