The old drug evil

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 248, 28 June 1988, Page 11

The old drug evil

by

Dennis

Beytagh

Once again we turn the pages back 80 years to compare life in 1908 with life in 1988. It is interesting to note how many of the reports which appeared in the Waimarino County Call in July 1908 are similar to those appearing in today's newspaper. The first story under a bold headline The Drug Evil' and the second under 'The Dangers of Smoking' illustrate two of these similarities. It seems that no thing much has changed in 80 years! The Drug Evil The movement in Par- ^ liament to restrict the* sale of chlorodyne has| resulted in Mr T. Wil-J ford, one of the. movers, receiving a" pathetic letter from a| Napier resident. The writer expressesthe hope that every-l thing will be done to| wipe this curse out of| New Zealand. His case.I he said, was that ofl many others. His wife was addicteu| to the drug and as a re- 1 sult, after spending 30 1 years in getting a home ■ together, he had been* involved in (financial) I trouble and had had to | mortgage his property. . He had tried every* remedy under the sun. | The victims of the drug | suffered from all sorts ■ of imaginings and took ^

their husbands to court. 'My wife lies in front of me almost at death's door filled up with chlorodyne I don't know the minute she will pass away.' In God's name, d o your utmost for the sake of humanity." (The Bulletin has made enquiries about chlorodyne and learnt that it was a tincture of chloroform and morphine used in the treatment of gastric

disorders and dysentery. However, because it was addictive and caused hallucinations if taken in excess, it was also believed to have been used much earlier in history by people (Napolean is said to have been one) who had neither a gastric disorder nor dysentery! The drug is no longer available.) The Dangers of Smoking "Of the 4 8 0,000 schoolboys to whom

Lord Robert's letter on the harmful effects of smoking has been read by the Rev J.M. Dryerre during his antismoking lectures, 450,000 have pledged themselves not to smoke until they are twenty-one years o f age." Rugby "The New Zealand team to play the An-glo-Welsh reps at Auckland tomorrow have been in training quarters in the northern city for some days. The Dominionists are in rare buckle and are sure to win by a fair margin."