Monday 7 December 2015

Our drug addicted grandparents - how bad were they?

I noticed with my afternoon dose of caffeine that one of my FB friends had posted an amazing picture which fit so perfectly with our discussion this morning that I had to blog it. It's an advertisement for cough syrup from the 1930s - but look at those ingredients! If you sold or used it today, in most countries you would be in prison for years.

That prompted me to do a bit more research. A Google of the image search string "one night cough syrup heroin cannabis cocaine" turns up a wonderful collection of old time remedies that show how much our ancestors, at least my ancestors, loved their drugs.

The obvious question is: should our grandparents, who were the sellers and customers of these products, have been in prison? Were they raving drug addicts? Were the readily available hard drugs of addiction being sold in family corner stores and through news paper advertisements destroying society? Was all of this freely sold and used cocaine, heroin and other drugs destroying the young people of the 1930s and earlier?

Should the executives of the giant Bayer pharmaceutical company be in prison for the heroin that they used to sell along with aspirin?

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Reference
There is no reference citation for a Google or other search, but you can describe your method, which is what I did above.
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown7 December 2015 at 22:19

    I think we should mention those ingredients as 'open-minded' in those old day before 'the drugs' was stigmatized. Not only drugs, beverage industry those day also contain the psychoactive to boost the consumer satisfaction like the 7UP containing lithium, which is used nowaday as a drug to treat bipolar disorder and may lead to kidney failure and death if the patient get toxic. Even today, the best cough syrup still need to depend on the potency of opium compound.

    Actually the chloroform you didn't mention is the most hazardous ingredient in the formula. You may get better from cough, but suffer from toxicity to liver and nerve system or even cancer in the future.

    "The major effect from acute (short-term) inhalation exposure to chloroform is central nervous system depression. Chronic (long-term) exposure to chloroform by inhalation in humans has resulted in effects on the liver, including hepatitis and jaundice, and central nervous system effects, such as depression and irritability. Chloroform has been shown to be carcinogenic in animals after oral exposure, resulting in an increase in kidney and liver tumors"

    Ref:
    National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database; CID=6212, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6212 (accessed Dec 7, 2015).

    I think science is not an absolute truth as same as the law. The best choice was chosen at that period of time within the limited knowledge from the aspects of pros and cons. That's why we need the researcher and parliament to develop our lives to be better and better from both materialistic and social aspects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter AUA9 December 2015 at 07:23

      If people enjoy chloroform, and if they know the risks according to the best scientific knowledge we have, should they be allowed to use chloroform?

      If people enjoy sugar, and if they know the risks according to the best scientific knowledge we have, should they be allowed to use sugar, which is implicated in numerous health problems and is a leading cause of obesity, which is a major public health cost today? Must sugar be made illegal and its dealers thrown into prison? Or should it only be illegal to sell sugar in large quantities? Before you laugh too much, New York's mayor a couple of years ago did follow this line of reasoning, which makes sense if you accept the arguments for criminalizing heroin and other drugs. He tried to make it illegal for shops to sell large, sugary drinks. Fortunately, or not if you do accept the reasoning that potential harm justifies criminalizing, a higher court ruled against New York's new laws.

      Reference
      Grynbaum, M. M. (2012, May 30). The New York Times. New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Sugary Drinks. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/nyregion/bloomberg-plans-a-ban-on-large-sugared-drinks.html

      Delete

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