1883-11-02oo

A reporter stood at the window of a prominent drug store in this city the other day, watching the crowds of people who passed up and down the street.`

Hamilton Spectator.   November  02, 1883.

The reporter who stood outside one of Hamilton`s prominent drug stores was not idly passing time, but had a specific purpose. He had been assigned to monitor who was going to the drug store as a result of increasing public concerns about the use of opium in the community:

“After a time, two young and handsomely dressed ladies passed and gave a side glance into the store, as if they wanted to come in. They had a peculiarity about their complexions which at once attracted the notice and led to the reporter to inquire who they were.

“ ‘Oh! don’t you know them?’ replied the clerk; ‘well, I cannot tell you, only they don’t belong to the city. They visit here frequently, and are known to one or two druggists as opium eaters. If you take particular notice that, besides their peculiar complexion, they have a strange look in their eyes, and a nervousness which is apparent  in all their movements. The clerk said that one of the ladies had been ordered to take opium years ago for sickness, and her sister was foolish enough to suppose that it would benefit her, and so commenced the use of it also.

“ ‘Any way of breaking off the habit?’

“ ‘Well, I have heard of cases where victims have conquered the habit, but never met one. It could be conquered if the victims had the willpower, but they have not, and the appetite is so strong that they cannot live without it.’

“ ‘Many users of it?’

“ ‘No, there are not many in this city, and the number is gradually growing less.’

“The reporter was here shown a list of six or eight names, all non-residents of the city, who for almost ten years had been getting opium at the store. Besides these, there was only one person, a young woman, who used it at all, and she had been using it for several years, and, strange to say, the dose, instead of getting larger, remained the same or gradually got less.

“As to smoking opium, the reporter was only able to learn of one case in this city, and that was of a man from Chicago. The use of opium in the form a gum, for chewing, is gradually giving away, and in a few cases, is being superseded by morphine, which is about the same as opium, and has the same effect. On looking over opium accounts for a number of years, it was ascertained that the cost to the average user was from 40 to 60 cents a week, in one case the cost amounted to 65 cents.

“ ‘What class of people use it most?’

“ ‘Well, those who use it are generally pretty well to do, and there are two women to every man. An experienced person can tell almost everyone who has used it for any length of time at first sight.’

“As the reporter turned to go, the clerk stated most emphatically that the use was who not increasing, but, if anything, was on the decrease.”¹

¹“Slaves to Appetite : Opium and Those Who Habitually Use It.”

Hamilton Spectator.   November  02, 1883.