THE DEADLY COCAIN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 19, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 38.

THE DEADLY COCAIN.

THE sale of alcohol may be prohibited, as it ought to be, but depraved appetite will find in Satan's materia medica some other potent drug for the destruction of body and soul.

Cocain is one of the deceitful poisons now working effectually to destroy souls. The Cincinnati Enquirer of August 5 had an article entitled "Cocain," which opens with these paragraphs:—

"The recent arrest of several druggists in this city for selling cocain indiscriminately to all comers, without requiring the order of a physician, has again started the discussion as to the uses and abuses of the most seductive drug known to medical science. The discussion of a few years ago settled nothing, as there was just as much testimony on one side as the other regarding the deleterious effects from its use.

"Cincinnati, however, furnished two notable examples of what effect it has on some people, and both cases were the more remarkable from the fact that the victims were well-known physicians, and both became addicted to the use of cocain by reason of their desire to increase their knowledge by experimenting with it. One of the men referred to became a total physical and mental wreck, and sank into an early grave. The other, after years of suffering consequent upon its use, succeeded in breaking the charm that held him a captive for years, and finally regained his normal vigor of body and mind, and at this time is an honored and respected leader in his profession in an Eastern city, noted for its eminent men in the medical world. No matter what will be the result of the controversy on the subject of cocain using, all agree that its effects are delightful; that an eighth of a grain will make the user of it feel as if he owned the earth, and that all the ills and perplexities of existence were banished forever. But when the effects have worn off, then comes the reaction. Life is again unbearable, and the only way to make it endurable is another dose of the narcotic that numbs the sensibilities, eases bodily and mental pain, paints everything in a roseate hue, and places the poor devil in a transitory elysium of bliss."

The Enquirer tells us, speaking of Cincinnati, that "there is not a drug store in the thickly-settled districts of this city that is not daily besieged by unhappy victims of misfortune."

The drug is sold under various guises, as, for instance, a catarrh remedy. One physician is quoted by the Enquirer as saying:—

"Cocain may be toxic, sometimes deadly, in large doses. It may give rise to dangerous or even fatal symptoms in doses usually deemed safe. The danger, near and remote, is greatest when given under the skin. It may produce a diseased condition, in which the will is prostrate, and the patient powerless—a true toxic neurosis, more marked and less hopeful than that from alcohol or opium."

A traveling man declares that cocain-using produces a condition "wherein conscience is completely paralyzed, and all sense of moral responsibility is annihilated." And then he gives this instance to illustrate how the habit has spread:—

"In Winchester, Ky., four years ago cocain was unknown outside of medical circles or the pharmacies, but to-day there are 800 known slaves to cocain, principally, however, colored. At another point in that same State, in a drug store, in the course of an hour, I counted eleven calls for morphine and eighteen for cocain. It is also a remarkable and well-known fact in the South that whenever a town goes dry, the sale of cocain increases."

He tells of the case of a cocain fiend who began when young with paregoric, then opium, ending with cocain. The above also reveals why it is that we see such startling manifestations of conscienceless deeds. This is not a converted world. It is a great lazar house, filled with dying, hopeless souls, which only the grace of God can reach.