LIFE DESTROYING DRUGS.

NZ Truth, Issue 63, 1 September 1906, Page 5

LIFE DESTROYING DRUGS.

Patent Medicines to Avoid.

No. n.

DANGERS OF ANTIKAMNIA.

Antikamnia, claiming to be an "ethical" remedy, and advertised through the medical press by methods that would with little alteration fit any patent pain-killer on the market, is no less dangerous or fraudulent than the Orangeine class which it almost , exactly parallels m composition. It was at first exploited as a "new synthetical coal-tar derivative," which it isn't, and never was. It is simply half or more acctanilid (some analyses show as high as ©8 per cent) with other unimportant ingredients invarying proportions. In a toooklet-en-titled

"LIGHT ON FAIN," and distributed on doorsteps, ... we find under an alphabetical list of diseases this invitation to? form the Antikamnia habit.

"Nervousness (overwork- and", ezcesses)—Dose : One Antikamnia tablet^ every two or three hours.

"Shoppers 1 or Sightseers' Heaidache —Dose : Two Antikamnia tablets. every three hours.

"Worry (nervousness : *the»Blues*) — Dose : One or two Antikanmia and Codeine tablets every three hours."

Codeine is. obtained from opiam. The codeine habit is well known to all institutions which treat drug addictions, and is (recognised as beiflg no less difficult to cure- vfcham 4die*mor>phine habit.

A typical instance of what Aarbi" kamnia will do for its users. is thafr< of a Pennsylvania merchant, 50 'years* , old, who had declined, without apparent cause, from 140 to 116 pounds, ' and was finally brought to Philadelphia m a state of stupor., His

PULSE WAS BARELY PERCEPTIBLE, his skin dusky, and his blood of a deep chocolate color. On reviving he was questioned as to whether he had been taking headache powders. He had, for several years. What kind ?" Antikamnia ; sometimes m the plain < tablets, at others times Antikamnia With codeine. How many? About 12 a day. He was greatly surprised to learn that this habit was responsible for his condition.

"My doctor gave it to me for insomnia," he said, and it appeared that the patient had never even- been, warned of the dangerous character of the drug.

Were it obtainable ♦Truth' 7 would print here the full name and address of that attending physician, as one unfit, either through ignorance or carelessness, to practice his profession. And there would be other physicians all over the country who would, under that description, sufier the aame indictment within their own m-Hrdstfor starting innocent patients^ upon a destructive and

SOMETIMES FATAL 1 : COURSE. For it is the careless or conscience-* less physician who gets the customer-; for the "ethical" headache remedies,,and the customer, once secured, payai a profit,, very literally, with his own. Wood. Once having taken Anttkam-^ nia, the layman, unless informed asto its true nature, will- often return to the drug store and purchase it, with the impression that it is a-speci-fic drug, like quinine or potassium^ chlorate,

INSTEAD OF A DISQUISED POISON,

exploited and sold under patent -rights by a private concern. The United States Post Office, m its broad- tolerance, permits the Antikamnia Company to send through the mails- little sample boxes containing tablets enough to kill an ordinary man, and these samples are, sent not only to physicians, as is the rule with etfcacal remedies, but to lawyers, business men, "brain workers," and otherprospective purchasing classes. The box bears the lying statement :— "Nots-drug habit— no heart effect."