Narcotics 385 



thinking it may rest you and change happily at times the current 

 of your thought, I may perhaps commend to you my own example ; 

 for I began my smoking at the age of forty-five and ended it ten 

 years ago at the age of seventy." 



Statistics collected by Prof. Pack of the University of Utah 

 indicate that athletes who use tobacco are inferior to those who 

 abstain. After making a study of the! tobacco-using habits of 

 students competing for places on the football teams, he concluded : 



1. That only half as many smokers as non-smokers are suc- 

 cessful in the "tryouts" for football squads. 



2. In the case of able-bodied men, smoking is associated with 

 loss of lung capacity amounting to practically ten per cent. 



3. Smoking is invariably associated with low scholarship. 

 Opium. Opium is a narcotic prepared from the juice of the 



unripe seed capsules of the white poppy. It is a much more power- 

 ful narcotic than tobacco, and much more injurious to those who 

 contract the habit of using it, as it not only injures the physical 

 and mental powers but also causes deterioration of the moral sense 

 of its victims. Like alcohol and other narcotics, its use creates 

 a craving for more, which often leads to the opium habit, a 

 habit which completely dominates the will. Morphine, codein 

 and heroin are made from opium. Their use is a national peril. 

 The habit of using these drugs is commonly formed by taking 

 them to relieve pain, without realizing the danger thus incurred. 

 The victim suffers from palpitation of the heart, oppressed breath- 

 ing, insomnia and various mental disorders. The only safe way 

 to avoid the evils resulting from this habit is never to take the 

 first dose. 



Heroin. One of the most dangerous drugs, against the use 

 of which a warning should be sounded, is heroin. Formerly it 

 was made only from opium but now it is produced from coal tar. 

 Speaking in regard to the danger involved in the use of this drug 

 before the Committee on Education in the United States House 

 of Representatives, the Hon. Walter F. Lineberger, representative 

 from California, said: 



"Though heroin is a comparatively new drug, the number of 

 heroin addicts in one great city alone is estimated by the city 



