Aztec's Sacred Mushroom

1916

Mushrooms are dangerous enough in the United States, where those who gather and eat them prize their flavor, and sometimes perish by reason of wrong diagnosis, for the deadly kind that are called toadstools look much like some of the edible mushrooms. In Mexico it would seem that the mushroom situation is worse than here, for while Americans hunt mushrooms for food, the Mexicans have reason to regard them as both meat and drink. Read the following statement of what happens after consuming the sacred mushroom of the Aztecs:

It is a powerful narcotic, producing the most fantastic visions, and is regarded by the Indians as a key which, in their ceremonial, opens to them all the glories of another and better world. A tincture made by simply chopping up the plant and allowing it to soak in diluted alcohol for a couple of weeks is a most serviceable remedy for nervousness, headaches and insomnia. When chewed (the Indians say) it stops the painful coughing of consumptives.

Botanists assert that the "sacred mushroom" is not a mushroom at all, but a cactus. That, however, is merely a matter of bald detail. What is important is the action of the plant on the system, This is attributed to an alkaloid principle it contains known as anhalonin, which chemists say is separable in the form of white, needlelike crystals.

The plant resembles a radish in shape. It has a button-like top, which is all of it that appears above the ground, and this is why it has been taken for a mushroom. The top is covered with prickles.

The early missionaries disapproved of the "sacred mushrooms." Because its use was part of the religious ceremonial of the native priests, the good missionaries called it "devil root." Another name of it is "dream plant," because of the visions it produces. Besides the dream inducing alkaloid, it yields a deadly poison; so it would not do for people unfamiliar with the plant to experiment with its effects on their own persons. People who have had it administered to them by physicians declare it is a remedy for the headachy condition that follows the drinking of alcohol.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

Another "Jag Farm" Forced to Suspend

1919

Last Booze Patient Leaves Minneapolis Institution.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Lack of patients caused the abandonment of the Willmar "jag farm" and officials declared that from now on it will be devoted solely to treatment of insane patients.

The last inebriate patient — a woman — was discharged a few days ago, Charles J. Swendson of the State Board of Control said. The hospital was opened 10 years ago for treatment of persons afflicted with the liquor and drug habits.

After announcement of the State Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of the Minnesota prohibition enforcement act passed at the last legislative session, the police promised a vigorous enforcement.

"We will attempt to arrest all persons making liquor or using it in any way contrary to the State law," said Michael Johannes, chief of the police vice squad.

People Who Eat Arsenic

1901

White arsenic is the form in which arsenic is eaten by the peasants of Styria and the Tyrol. Prof. Schallgrueber, of Gratz, was the first to call attention to this practice in a report, which he made in 1822 to the Austrian government on the cause of the numerous deaths from arsenic poisoning in those districts. He found that arsenic was kept in most of the houses in Upper Styria under the name of "hydrach," evidently a corruption of "muttorauch," or furnace smoke. His statements were subsequently confirmed from personal observation by a Dr. Maclagan, of Edinburgh, but for many years afterward the arsenic eaters were generally disbelieved in, and it was not till 1860 that C. Heisch published convincing evidence.

Arsenic is principally eaten by hunters and woodcutters with the object of warding off fatigue and improving their staying powers. Owing to the fact that the sale of arsenic is illegal in Austria without a doctor's certificate, it is difficult to obtain definite information of a habit which is kept as secret as possible. According to a Dr. Lorenzo, in that district the arsenic is taken fasting, usually in a cup of coffee, the first dose being minute, but increased day by day until it sometimes amounts to the enormous dose of twelve or fifteen grains. He found that the arsenic eaters were usually long lived, though liable to sudden death. They have a very fresh, youthful appearance, and are seldom attacked by infectious diseases. After the first dose the usual symptoms of slight arsenic poisoning are evident, but these soon disappear on continuing the treatment.

In the arsenic factories in Salzburg it is stated that workmen who are not arsenic eaters soon succumb to the fumes. The manager of one of these works informed Mr. Heisch that he had been medically advised to eat arsenic before taking up his position. He considered that no one should begin the practice before 12 years old nor after 30, and that in any case after 50 years of age the daily dose should be gradually reduced, since otherwise sudden death would ensue. If a confirmed arsenic eater suddenly attempts to do altogether without the drug he immediately succumbs to the effects of arsenic poisoning. The only way to obviate this is gradually to acclimatize the system by reducing the dose from day to day.

As further evidence of the cumulative properties of arsenic it is interesting to note that when the graveyards in Upper Styria are opened the bodies of the arsenic eaters can be distinguished by their almost perfect state of preservation, due to the gradually accumulated arsenic. — Science Gossip.

Young Bride in Jail Warns Girls of Drug

1915

Tells of Ended Romance and Fight Against Morphine

And so, this story of the tragic ending of a happy romance and a forlorn fight against the use of drugs, is a story with a moral.

LOS ANGELES, Cal., Dec. 16. — A little wanderer in the gray land of drugs tossed and turned on a cot in a cell at the matron's department of the city jail.

"Never take the first dose," she sobbed. "It's grip is terrible."

She was Mrs. James Dellarocca, 19 years old, and a bride of but three months.

In a separate cell on the floor below was her husband, facing a charge of forgery.

But even in the torment of her soul, that "little wanderer" sobbed that her next fight against the use of morphine would be a successful one, and with tears rolling down her cheeks told the story of her life in the clutches of drug habit.

How She Started

"When did I start?" she sobbed. "Oh, that is the worst part of the story. It was a woman who started me — a woman who said she was my friend. That was about four months ago. I knew that she was 'queer' — that is, she was a drug user.

"One day I was very sick. I had been ill for several weeks. I was suffering terribly. Then this woman came to me and told me she could relieve my suffering. I knew what she meant and I refused.

"She kept right after me. I was in agony. She said I could take it once and then not again. Finally I gave in. The pain was numbed.

"Oh, it's the same old story from then on. I could not stop.

"I was compelled to increase the dose every day. Inside of a few weeks I was taking a grain and a half.

She Meets Jimmy

"Then I met Jimmy" — Dellarocca — "it was love at first sight. I loved him. He asked me to marry him. I was foolish and told him yes. He did not know I was taking morphine. I decided it was best to tell him before we were married and I did so — two days before.

"I remember he put his arm around me and said, 'Never mind, little girl, you and I will fight it out together, you'll be all right in a little while.'

"We were married and we started to fight. We begun saving our money so that I could be cured. I could not stop, tho. I would take a little each day. But we fought hard and we smiled as we fought, because we were going to win.

"Then his business went broke. Our money went fast. He could not bear to see me in agony without morphine. He would buy it altho it hurt him to do it and give it to me.

"I became worse. The fight seemed hopeless. I was taking 2 grains three or four times a day. Then we were arrested.

"I am glad I have been arrested. I will have another chance to fight morphine. They tell me I can be cured and I am going to try, oh, so hard, for Jimmy's sake and my sake.

"Oh, tell girls never to touch drugs. Tell them to run from it. Tell them to stop their ears every time it is mentioned. Please do, 'cause it may do some good."

The "little wanderer" declared that her husband was innocent of the charge of the forgery of counter signatures to nine $100 checks.

"I will stay by him until the end," she sobbed as she turned her face to the wall.

Ether — Latest Vice in France

1910

Paris. — Compared to the new vice which has broken out in France, that of taking ether, drinking absinthe and injecting morphine are virtues. This most modern vice has already assumed abnormal proportions, probably because the sale of ether is free.

Consumers of ether begin by breathing its vapor. Soon this pleasing effect wears off, then they drink it, The consumption of ether is not confined to any special class of society. It is asserted that 40 per cent of the poorer classes who go to the dispensary of the prefect of police are ether fiends.

Physicians say that a pint and three-quarters is as much as anyone can safely take in a day. However, druggists say that they have customers who use about four times that amount.


Drink Scourge in France

What the French call "alcoholisme" has grown to be a dreadful scourge, and a direful portent for the future of the people. In some parts of France the very medical men must be consulted early in the day if they are to be found sober. — Church Quarterly Review.


"Thank God" for Faults!

Thank God we do not live with saints! We live with people full of faults, and it is excellent, for the faults of others serve us either by imposing a salutary constraint or by the lesson that they give. — Paris Figaro.

May Prosecute Itinerant Drug Dispenser

1914

Broadly speaking, no one who is not a registered pharmacist may sell drugs legally.

Under this provision of the code officers may prosecute the traveling man who is reported to be visiting this city twice a week to sell preparations containing morphine, cocaine or other habit-forming drugs to young men and boys, unless he is a registered pharmacist.

When poisons are sold they must be labeled.

Officers are doing all in their power to check the sale of various preparations called "snow" by the drug victims. Appeals of mothers whose boys are becoming physical wrecks have been made and it is the determination of all the officers to enforce strictly all laws, whether state or interstate, which prohibit the sale of opium, morphine and cocaine.

Many Hideous Wrecks

Police officers and other observant persons give graphic descriptions of the suffering of drug fiends. Many boys and young men are but shadows of their former selves, their bodies are covered with sores where the hypodermic needle has been injected, and they are losing their mental, moral and physical stamina. In many instances the needle wounds have become infected, but this fact does not deter the victims from injecting the morphine or cocaine into other parts of the body.

The craving for strong drink is nothing compared with the craving for drugs after the habit has once been formed, and the chances for cure are very slight.

Because of these deplorable facts — because of the widespread and growing use of drugs — the public is aroused. The people demand the strict enforcement of all present laws and, if they be inadequate, the passage of new provisions which will increase the difficulty of young men to procure the "snow."

—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Jan. 16, 1914, p. 3.

Morphiomania – An Addiction, Must Have Morphine or Opium

1878

Morphiomania

Morphiomania has become a great scourge in Berlin since the introduction of opium injections as a relief from bodily suffering and sleeplessness.

Tradespeople, merchants, judges, barristers, soldiers, students, doctors and clergymen become the victims of the habit, and when the medical attendants are called in it is too late to counteract the evil.

At first, these subcutaneous injections offer the quickest and easiest means to allay pain and bring rest to the sufferer. But to prove effectual in its cure, the treatment must be continued for a certain time; and during that period the patient becomes so accustomed to these skin injections that they become indispensable. When the medical practitioner refuses to increase the doses, the patient unable to sleep or rest without the calming injection, procures the necessary instruments and applies the remedy himself.

Sometimes, also, even after the patient has been cured without any undue doses, and when he should dispense with the opium injections, he delays doing so under the plea that they make sleep and rest so well. In fact, when once these subcutaneous injections have begun, they can rarely be left off. Like drink, the appetite for them increases until chronic drunkenness ensues.

Appetite for Peyote Seeds Up Since Prohibition

1922

NORTHWESTERHERS ARE EATING PEYOTE SEEDS

Since the Prohibition Laws New Appetite Has Gone Even to the Orient.

A new form of intoxication, viewed as a social menace among Northwest Indians and Orientals in Washington, is the eating of peyote or button-like seeds of an Arizona cactus.

Thousands of these types of Northwest inhabitants are now alleged to be peyote drug fiends, a spree occurring several times a year and lasting many weeks. The effect of the cactus button on its victims is sleeplessness, morbidness and an increased mental desire for hilarity and games of chance.

The peyote is a pear-shaped species of cactus common in parts of the Southwest. The top bears seeds resembling red-coat buttons. These are sold by pickers to dealers for $2 per thousand.

The button-like seeds are generally eaten in the dry, brittle state, from 5 to 50 in a single night.

From time immemorial the peyote has been used in the Southwest among the aborigines and Mexicans for producing an intoxication of soul and body to aid them in gambling, dancing, or ill-timed deeds.

Since the abolition of liquor and the ban on narcotics, the peyote fans gradually moved northward along with other vile drugs. The consumption of this bean has invaded the Northwest to Alaska, and many bushels of the peyote buttons have been taken to the Orient.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 24, 1922, page 7.