Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
October,  1903.  J 
Acquirement  of  Drug  Habits, 
485 
army  and  navy  during  the  last  year  because  of  their  being  detected 
as  habitual  users  of  opium  or  morphine — probably  several  hundred 
per  cent,  more  during  the  last  five  years  than  for  any  ten  years 
previous.  To  the  best  of  the  writer's  knowledge — and  he  has 
carefully  inquired  into  the  facts — practically  all  the  cases  of  drug 
habitues  in  both  army  and  navy  arise  from  the  men  learning  the 
habit  from  natives  of  foreign  countries  or  from  lewd  women  and  men 
in  this  country.  Not  a  single  case  of  drug  habit  coming  from  the 
prescribing  of  an  opiate  by  a  medical  officer  can  be  recalled,  opium 
and  allied  drugs  being  very  guardedly  and  carefully  used  by  army 
and  navy  medical  officers.  A  goodly  percentage  of  the  cases  are 
men  who  have  acquired  some  drug  habit  prior  to  enlistment,  while 
a  few — sad  to  say — are  from  the  men  of  the  hospital  corps  who 
drifted  into  the  habit  from  constant  opportunity  and  handling  of  the 
baneful  drug. 
At  present,  it  is  calculated  that  there  are  over  a  million  opium 
smokers  in  the  United  States,  the  importation  of  opium  for  smoking 
purposes  being  double  that  for  medicinal  uses,  amounting  to  more 
than  500,000  pounds  last  year,  valued  at  $3,500,000! 
COCAINE  HABIT. 
The  frightful  effects  of  cocaine  on  users  of  this  very  "  devil-drug  " 
have  been  so  often  and  graphically  told  that  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  retell  the  story.  One  peculiar  feature  of  the  cocaine  habit  noted 
by  the  writer  is  that  one  of  the  first  signs  of  the  use  in  a  person  is 
that  the  habitue  loses  all  care  for  personal  appearance  or  neatness, 
and  a  man  formerly  the  pink  of  neatness  soon  becomes  noticeably 
slovenly  in  dress  and  appearance.  There  does  not  seem  to  be 
anything  yet  discovered  that  has  as  baneful  an  effect  on  the  user 
as  does  cocaine.  The  writer  has  seen  this  drug  literally  turn  a 
bright,  high-principled  man  into  a  sneak-thief  and  liar,  absolutely 
without  regard  for  morality  or  principle.  One  redeeming  feature 
there  is :  the  habitual  use  of  cocaine  seems  to  lessen  both  sexual 
desire  and  ability,  so  there  is  less  danger  of  its  transmission  by 
heredity. 
The  evidence  seems  to  point  to  the  startling  fact  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  cocaine  habitues  have  fallen  victims  to  its  influence  through 
use  of  prescriptions  or  patent  medicines  containing  the  drug. 
Those  who  deliberately  begin  the  use  of  cocaine  mostly  seem  to  do 
