The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-07-27
WILLING TO SELL SOUL
IN ORDER TO GET DOPE
WOMAN DRUG FIEND DESCRIBES
HER FEELINGS TO MAYOR
SMITH OF MACON.
HER BODY RACKED WITH PAIN
Willing to Undergo Any Hardship
Or Deprivation to Be Cured Pro-
vided the Drug Is Taken From
Her by Degrees.

Or Deprivation to Be Cured Pro-
vided the Drug Is Taken From
Her by Degrees.
MACON, Ga.-With a prescription
calling for a reduced dose of dope,
the paper blackened and ragged be-
cause of long handling, a woman Wis
tied the mayors office yesterday, and
there told a story with streak of
sadness in it, of her experience with
the drug and her difficulty in having
the prescription filled, though the
prescription was signed by reputa-
BILE physician.
The dose wanted, she said, was
about half the quantity that the ply
stefan had been prescribing, he hav-
ing adopted the reducing process
since the enforcement of the
Harrison act. In spite of this, how
ever, no druggist and she had visit
ed every drug store in the city, would
fill it, being fatty refused in every
instance. Some thoughtless person
had advised her to see the mayor and
that he would order the city physi-
clan to furnish her with the drug.
She seemed greatly disappointed on
being told the contrary.
While in his office the mayor asked
her to describe her feelings when not
under the influence of the drug.
Il have not had any since yester-
day morning, and my sufferings have
been intense. 1t has been my habit to
take the dope Immediately on rising
in the morning, then a dose at dinner
time and again on going to bed at
night. In this way I am kept free
from pain and misery. But now,
having gone without it since yester-
day, my entire body is racked by a
dead pain. Every bone in me aches,
and I'm restless-you may call it ner-
vousness-and I feel languid, not
sleepy-like, but caring for nothing
except to get some of the drug. Then
I am feverish and dry and feel as
though I will certainly go crazy if not
given relief.
81 tremble at the thought that l
will never get any more. My brain
appears to be unusually active, thus
making my sufferings more acute.
would much prefer the sharpest pains
to the dead ones l am enduring, be-
cause they would arouse me. These
dead, aching pains nearly kill me.
Willing to Sell Her Soul
"They tell me that to send me to
the state sanitarium to be cured l
must first spend ten days in Jail, but
that / will be furnished the drug dur
ing that time. Send me to Jail! l
will gladly go there if assured of
treatment. God knows | want to
quit the habit. can see now that we
who are so unfortunate as to use the
drug must quit in some way, by being
cured or by ending our lives, and
with some of us the quicker the bet
ter. Life is sweet to me, even though
l suffer so much, and am willing to
undergo any hardship, any depriva-
ton to be cured, provided the drug
is taken from me by degrees. But 1
cannot stand this torture much long
er. 1t is killing me by inches. Right
at this minute would be willing to
sell my soul to have that prescription
filled"
The suggestion was made that she
see the physician that wrote the pre-
scription and get him to write a let
ter to some druggist that she had
been his patient and that he was fol-
lowing the law in reducing the doses.
With that suggestion, grasped at as
ray of hope, she left the office.
Whether or not she succeeded is not
known