Skip to main content

“…So set ‘em up Joe, I’ve gotta story you ought know…” Just for some gruesome 'sh*ts and giggles,' let me tell you what used to be for sale at the local pharmacy….


 Bless you Billie. Drugs certainly f$&(ed up your life. 

I know, we all hate the Food and Drug Administration.  But in the late 19th, early 20th centuries, the government actually worked to remove certain substances that would indeed prove to be 'harmful to the general population.'

Do you wanna know what used to be for sale (off the shelf) at the 19th century equivalent of the local CVS?



Thought you might be up for a horrifically funny/ terrifyingly sad photo essay, to remind you of substances that used to be legal, in the (fairly) recent past.


Heroin.  Cocaine.  Other fun things.  Don't believe me?




As you can see, heroin used to be a common ingredient in aspirin.  Not exactly acetaminophen, eh?


Heroin was additionally used for "female complaints" like hysteria and neurasthenia.  In those days, these two 'diseases' were used as a catch all for just about any condition doctors regularly associated with women.  I don't have to tell you, that this led to a billion misdiagnoses, and contributed to a drastic rise in drug addiction (although addiction had yet to be recognized as a medical condition).

    "The synthesis of morphine by Friedrich Sertuerner of Germany in 1803 led physicians to label the drug as "God's own medicine" for its reliability, long-lasting effects, and safety..."  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html


Next...cocaine!!!













Sigh.





Cocaine + beer.  That IS gonna be one quiet (stoned) baby.

And this nice little collage:




And, we absolutely CANNOT forget Americans' favorite drink:


Yes, that's how it got its' name.  But, do you know that it was also "the ideal brain tonic"?





For discriminating people.  Wheeeeeeeee!





Did you ever hear about Laudanum Dear Reader?



You may ask:  what the hell was Laudanum? What was it made from? Usually, around 20% raw opium (straight from the poppy, folks), and 80% RAW alcohol.  


OMG


Let's take a little gander at some ads for this product:






And, what in God's Green Earth is "industrial flavor"?



Read the very bottom of this ad:  [for] the "ups and downs of childhood"?  




I wonder what Cheech and Chong would've said.




Are you wondering what governmental authorities were smoking in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries? Me too.  It certainly took a long time for heroin, cocaine, and even morphine, to be classified as dangerous substances by our government.  The lack of such legislation definitely contributed both, to the rise of addicts, and deaths from those same drugs.

Next week...the corset!!









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Into the Minds of Moria: Hitler's good little orc, Reinhard Heydrich

Hannah Arendt, who wrote an account of the trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem, characterized Nazism as "the banality of  evil."  What exactly does that mean? BANALITY:  "the quality of being boring, ordinary, and not original."   https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/banality  At least according to the Cambridge University dictionary.  But, do I agree with Arendt's use of that term? Yes and no.  Hitler's inner circle were extraordinarily ordinary men, not gifted with either intellect or extensive education (excepting perhaps Albert Speer).  And yet, these men were truly gifted in their collective hatred and paranoia ...of just about everything and everyone. But, there were special orcs,  even within the circle of Hitler's closest minions.  This is the story of one of the worst: Hitler’s favorite orc. All right.  You caught me.  That orc is actually from the World of Warcraft. OK. Let me introduce you to this f...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Do You Deny then, Mr. Chivington, that you're a vicious psycho hose beast?' No sir, Mr. Congressman sir, I swear I didn't know there was anyone there! The tragic massacre at Sand Creek, 1864.

What images come to your mind, when you dream of the American West, Dear Reader? Something like this? I know that this is one of the more recognized fantasies about the western experience.  Hopefully by now, we all know that this depiction is COMPLETE bulls*&t. THERE WERE ALREADY PEOPLE THERE, FOLKS. When I think of the American western experience, I always have these images in my head: For my druthers, I prefer pictures like the above.  Images that compel impressions of space and wild beauty. Buffalo, coupled (of course) with that endless sky.  Whenever I think about the American West, I think poetically.  I think tectonically.  It's impossible to gage this landscape against the span of a single human life.  But, that is essentially what we have to do here, isn't it Dear Reader? We must create condensed sketches of larger events, even if those happenings are tragic in nature.    Which brings us to Sand Creek. The events surrounding the M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ignominious acts, Ethnocentrism, and the World War 2 internment of Japanese Americans, part one

  Be Like the Cactus Let not harsh tongues, that wag in vain, Discourage you. In spite of pain, Be like the cactus, which through rain, And storm, and thunder, can remain. Kimii Nagata https://japaneseinternmentmemories.wordpress.com/category/japanese-internement-poetry/ Manzanar, yesterday and today. When I was a kid, back in the Neo-lithic era, one of the books we had to read was entitled Farewell to Manzanar.   I don't remember it really, now that I'm in my dotage, but I do remember being shocked that the internment of Japanese Americans occurred during the second world war.  Here's a link to the book online:   https://www.rgandara.com/uploads/1/2/3/7/123702754/james_d._houstonjames_a._houstonjeanne_wakatsuki_houston_-_farewell_to_manzanar__2013_houghton_mifflin_harcourt_trade_and_reference_houghton_mifflin_harcourt_hmh_books_for_young_readers___1_.pdf   We also used to drive past what remained of the camp on our way to Mammoth Mountain--a ski resort....
Post a Comment
Read more