The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-10
How Habit Was Formed

person nappy ana cOntented, an idea
place to rest. stayed there onl,
twenty-four hours. l had terribl
feeling, craving didn't understand
III wanted something terribly.
seemed to be waiting for something
Fl decided to kill myself.
my mother brought me back t,
New York. called on the doctol
who had taken care Of me through
my sickness-he was the one WHIT
had first given me morphine--and
shall never forget my feeling wher
he said:
y" Why, you're an addict! YOU
! should have seen my face. He be.
gan to give me drugs again. Nor.
phine. 1t cost a lot, too. Ny mother
paid for it, couldn't tell my hus.
band-I thought he would never love
me again. And my mother couldn't
see me suffer without it. n. 4
II paid 50 a week to the doctor fol
the prescriptions and the drugs cost
$1.50 q day. s4.
Another doctor got hold Of me
later and he wanted me to start on
the needle. couldn't do it. i ,hav
a horror of It. So I began buying
from the peddlers. That cost about
$r0 week.
It's Easy to Get Narcotics
A girl i know and | used to. buy
an egg morphine. It's big white
lump. 1t cost $24 or SIS, and we'd
each pay half and then split it in
two. That much would last me lit
tie over weekabout nine days.
Its easy to get drugs on any cor
ner in certain neighborhoods. Just
go TO some one standing around and
give them hint Of what you want
and there it is.
Il used to take thirty or forty
grains day. can stand a lot.
need it. 1T is the only thing that
brings me back to normal. Z / had
some today, but not enough. Feel my
hands (they were damp and my
forehead. prespire terribly when
haven't had the usual amount.
'Oh, God, what doctors have done
to me! ] wish | never saw one. They
give drugs to people and make hab-
its, and the poor victim then must
always suffer-
Mrs. X was conquered by drugs
seven years ago.
Since then Baby x was born, child
of drug addict.
II have been a good mother"
says Mrs. X. Il nursed my baby for
seventeen months"
Poor misguided victim Just in
that way is baby made an addict.
1t would have been Kindness to sep
arate mother from child Immediately
after birth and permitted others to
care for 1t till the mother had re-
covered her normal state, free from
the traldom of morphine.
Z When a child like Baby x accus-
toned to the soothing effect of drugs,
is deprived Of them there are certain
symptoms which appear, violent d.
gestive disturbances, which might
brighten an untutored woman.
These are known as withdrawal
symptoms" and prove beyond doubt
that a child has been a drug addict.
Milk will sicken such baby.
It's thirst must be quenched by
something that lacks the peculiar
qualities OF that food.
Hence, tea In baby's bottle!
Since milk is the ideal nourish-
ment for young children, what de-
power drugs possess when
they make this best of foods impos-
sible to their slaves! For there is a
quality In milk which wars against
drugs in the human stomach.
Signs Of Heron
Beside the rosebud mouth of Baby
x, pouting while she dreamed, was
IN angry-looking red abrasion. Her
little nose was disfigured with an
other such mark.
These ordinarily trivial irritations
ire to an expert suspicious signs.
They indicate heroin applied to the
nostrils to be breathed into the sys-
.em.
q At two years a child should be
bright, full of the exuberance Of |
youth, active, aggressive in its move
nents, firm Of cheek and clear Of |
,ye.
The story Of Baby x is dreary
,ne. In it there Is nothing Of the |
oys of babyhood. It's bubbIing laugh
er and lusty grief, its continual
out are strangely absent.
This baby's smile is a lazy one,
he merest uplifting Of flabby white
,heeks
Her small fingers lie limp, they |
all to tighten on q visitors proffered
niger, one Of babyhood's oldest
ricks.
lgtYet, sad and gloomy as the pic
ure is, the greatest force in the
world lightens it.
Hope there is hope for Baby X I
ind, her unlucky kind.
They can be deprived of drugs
without any serious effects. They will
lot wish for 1t after it is taken away
rom their diet And that fact proves
hat drug addiction is not disease,
tut habit. None but adults, who
ire mentally awake, crave the drug.
But Baby x must be, separated
rom her mother while that wretch
I'd woman takes a cure in some in
'titution. Fear of this separation has
haunted Mrs. X ever since her child
vas born. It is her dreaded punish
nent, yet SO mighty is the call OF
morphine she cannot put the drug
rom her even to hold fast her baby
It her side.
1 But after all why blame those
women in the thra11 Of nowar thnv /