WHAT CONSTITUTES THE TOBACCO FAMILY.
By David Paulson, M.D.
THERE are some persons whom we understand very much better after we have compared them with some of their relatives. There are thousands of tobacco users who have never dreamed of the stern fact that tobacco, whisky, morphine, and cocaine all belong to the same tribe, so far as their effect on the human system is concerned. It is well-nigh impossible for a victim of any of the drug habits to become permanently free from them, without at the same time giving up the use of tobacco. The man smokes the cigar to borrow a good feeling which he does not possess. This is possibly the only reason why he used the drug. But sooner or later he comes to a point where he does not secure enough felicity from his favorite weed, and so in desperation he falls back again to morphine. One of the important factors in the uniform successful cure of several hundred cases of morphinism at the Battle Creek Sanitarium is that it is invariably insisted upon that the patient must be willing to be cured of the entire drug habit. This includes not simply morphine, but tobacco, whisky, tea and coffee, and the laying aside of such irritating substances as condiments and spices, and those containing quantities of waste material, such as flesh foods. Some will naturally inquire if it is safe to deprive a patient of all these at once, or if it is better to take one at a time. A patient who has several of these poison habits is in the same condition as is a man who has several fingers in the fire at once. The safest thing to do is to pull his fingers out as quickly as possible. It is, however, necessary to substitute something for these artificial stimulants. This must not be, however, some other delusive drug, but a physiological stimulant in the way of tonic hydrotherapy, electricity, and massage. The morphine fiend needs the moral influence of thoroughly trained attendants to administer the treatments. He needs above all to have the divine assurance that God is co-operating with him in the painful process of retracing some of his erring steps. To emphasize the kinship of tobacco to morphine, I have only to state that I have never seen a man who persisted in the use of tobacco after overcoming the drug habit who did not lapse back to it again within a year's time. We have reached a time when humanity is not willing to be satisfied with the amount of strength and vigor that nature affords, so the attempt is made to gain some overdraft by the use of these hurtful drugs. As a result, drug fiends are to be seen on almost every street corner.