Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1890 — PEOPLE WHO USE STIMULANTS [ARTICLE]

PEOPLE WHO USE STIMULANTS

The Danger That Lurks in the Various Preparations of Opium. j ’•.» Chicago Evening News. * I don't think I can recall a case where a grown person used paregoric for a stimulant," said a prominent physician yesterday afternoon. Z=Slt is a stimulant, nevertheless, as nearly every mother knows. Where is the mother who, at some period of her child’s babyhood, did not administer a dose of paregoric and soothing syrup, so-called, which is really nothing but paregoric? Paregoric is simply a mild form of opium. The only stimulating effect it has is from the opium it contains. It is, of course mixed with other drugs, and the whole compound is called paregoric. It is looked upon as a harmless baby medicine that comes into play very readily when baby is squalling and the head of the house demands peace at any price. Then it is that the paregoric bottle is seized and the irate youngster given a small dose. The child sinks into slumber and ceases to cry. •‘This well known family decoction is not dangerous unless an overdose is taken, and then, as with opium, death is likely to ensue. Occasionally a physician makes a mistake in writing a prescription for paregoric that is likely to cause the death of his patient. Two prescriptions may read much alike and yet have a far different meaning. Like this: ‘Tinct. Opii’ and ‘Tinct Opii. Cam ph.’ The former means tincture of opium and the latter paregoric. You can readily see that if the former was obtained and used where paregoric was intended that the result would be fatal, and such mistakes have been made. While in itself not dangerous, unless an extra large dose is taken, paregoric, as 11 before said, has the properties of opi- I um, and its effects are the same, only in a milder form. ••People who aro determined to use ( some form of stimulant can very readily find poisons enough that will do the work quickly and give better satisfaction than paregoric. The two stimulants most popular in Chicago are morphine and opium. They are, perhaps, used more extensively than is I generally thought. Neither is very oostly, and is easily obtained. There

' are other stimulants, such as cocaine land absinthe. Cocaine is used Considerably, but not to any alarming extent as yet, and I only recall ene case where death resulted from its use. I jsinthe is a distinctly foreign stimulant, and unless some ©f our newly arrived foreigners drink it 1 do not think it is used in Chicago. ‘.This vile, greenish-looking 1 liquor leads the drinker to a more horrible death than any of the other drugs. It leads its victim along in perfect security, for once the habit is formed it is a hard thing to quit. Many foreigners drink a small quantity regularly before diuner each day. They argue that it is a good appetizer and aids digestion. They were never more badly fooled. The drug has a most pernicious effect on the system and strikes at the very core of life. The evils of the use of alcohol are mild and few compared with those of absinthe. Fortunately its use is an old country habit.”