“The adult dose of Glyco-Heroin (Smith) is one teaspoonful repeated every two hours or at longer intervals, as the case may require.
“Children of 10 or more years, from a quarter to a half-teaspoonful.
“Children of 3 years or more, 5 to 10 drops.”
A WICKED FALSEHOOD
Included in much of the advertising matter that has been put out is the bare-faced untruth that the preparation does not produce narcotism or habituation. Here is a quotation from an undated circular:
“Glyco-Heroin (Smith) is decidedly preferable to preparations containing codeine or morphine, by reason of the fact that it does not produce narcotism, constipation, gastric disturbance nor habituation, even though its administration be protracted.”
That this assertion is not in keeping with facts is evidenced by the recent report of a study on the sale and use of heroin made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. From the information gathered it appears that the sales of heroin and heroin-containing preparations have increased greatly, particularly in those states which have rigid laws preventing the indiscriminate sale of morphin and cocain. Investigation of the subject establishes the fact that many drug victims who formerly used morphin and cocain, and who under the new laws find it difficult to obtain these substances, have begun using heroin, the sale of which is not as yet carefully restricted under state laws. The drug is said to be fully as dangerous as morphin, and by many is held to be much worse, for the reason that it occasionally kills the victim outright, and its habitual use is far harder to overcome than that of other drugs.
Phillips,[48] in discussing the prevalence of the heroin habit, reports, among others, the case of a physician aged 60 who began to take heroin because he suffered from a chronic cough and thought there was no danger of habit from the use of this drug because he believed the statements of various manufacturing firms who claimed that there was no danger of habit.
In a pamphlet now being distributed to the medical profession, entitled, “Glyco-Heroin (Smith), an exposition of its components together with references to its value in the treatment of Bronchitis, Cough, Cough of Phthisis, Laryngitis, Pneumonia and allied disorders of the Respiratory Tract,” the several alleged uses of the nostrum in the treatment of cough, “Regardless of the nature of its underlying cause,... whether of recent origin or of long duration,” are discussed at length, and eminent practitioners with degrees extending the width of the printed page are quoted in support of the statements made. While it may be permissible for a theoretically trained medical tyro who lays claim to the right of appending the abbreviations M.A., M.D., D.C.L., L.R.C.P. to his name to laud a heterogeneous habit-forming cough-syrup like Glyco-Heroin, Smith, similar testimonials from a man entitled to append Ph.G., M.S., M.D. to his name makes one doubt the value of the training, either scientific, pharmaceutical or medical, that has been given the poor unfortunate who, according to his own statements, indiscriminately doses a female patient of 7 and a male patient of 40 with huge doses of heroin every two, four or six hours.
The danger of contributing to the spread of the heroin habit by the use of preparations of this type is indicated by an editorial in The Journal of the American Medical Association,[49] which points out that although heroin and its hydrochlorid have been in use but a few years they have already established themselves among the habit-forming drugs and have become sufficiently conspicuous in this respect to awaken the thinking public to the deplorable results for which they may become responsible. Phillips,[49] in the article mentioned above, quotes Petty, who reports that in the last 150 cases of drug habit coming under his care he saw eight cases of heroin addiction. Three of these were initial cases; in one the patient had been cured of the opium habit, but following an operation heroin was prescribed, and the habit followed. The remaining four patients purposely substituted heroin for morphin, to which they had been addicted.
THE GROWTH OF HEROIN ADDICTION
The imminent danger of substituting heroin for either morphin or cocain is shown by the fact, reported by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, that during the early months of 1913 the coroner’s office in Philadelphia County, Pa., held inquests on five sudden deaths from heroin poisoning. In each case the victim was a heroin fiend and took an overdose. Drug fiends are apparently able to consume relatively large quantities of morphin or cocain, but any sudden and material increase in the amount of heroin taken is liable to prove fatal. As indicating the wide sale of this substance, it is known that one druggist in Pennsylvania whose store is located in an undesirable section of his city has been buying heroin tablets in 25,000 lots.