DAILY DRUGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 April 1929, Page 7

DAILY DRUGS

WE ALL TAKE THEM. WWhat a lot of things civilisation has to answer for! In prehistoric days our forefather, having done his day’s hunting, would come back home and, after having had his evening meal, seek his couch or bearskins. He was fatigued—so he rested. Nowadays, father comes home from the office after having done his day’s brain work, only to find that he has to further exercise that overworked organ for a few more hours by attending Mrs Smythe’s bridge evening (writes a Sydney doctor). It, is obvious that stimulation by some drug or other is an essential concomitant of modern city life. I use the word “drug” in its medical sense. And the mention of the fact during the week that the Down-and-Outs of Hyde Park are steady drinkers of methylated spirits, petrol, and kerosene, is a reminder that there are many other forms of stimulation that are quite unsuspected by the innocent millions who take them.

The lady who goes to town for the day and is so busy that she cannot find time for lunch, is generally rewarded about 3 o’clock by a splitting headache and other signs of fatigue. What is to be done? There is still that dress material to match those socks to buy for Aubrey, and a dozen and one other things to do. Ah, happy thought, a cup of tea! Why? Tea contains an alkaloid (tolled theine, or caffeine, quite a strong stimulant to the nervous system. Coffee contains it, too. So do some of the drinks of other countries —mate. (Paraguay), guarana. (Brazil), cola nut (Central Africa). Cocoa contains another stimulant called theobromine It is a thing worth -remembering that all these things are poisonous, if taken in excess. Just as alcohol does, they cause over-stimulation of the nervous system, loss of digestive power, and many other disastrous things.

EATING BY FORCE. This same fatigue which makes us feel “done-up” tends to rob us of our appetite. Stimulation is again necessary—this time in order to drive us to eat the things we should. Accordingly, we rush to the condiments —salt, pepper, and mustard —more stimulant which ought not to be at all necesSai T- X- X 4.T. In spite of various assertions to the contrary by interested parties, it is a short, step from tea to beer. The male of the species, in need of some artificial stimulation to his flagging appetites and desires, finds that tea is not sufficiently powerful to give him the required stimulus. From early childhood he has been allowed tea( to my mind a very erroneous practice), and he has acquired such a tolerance for it that its stimulative effect has been very largely minimised. We have no other drug midway between mild tea and potent alcohol, and so the

average man. seeks the stronger. Why do men need alcohol? I believe that there are only two fundamental factors, the elimination of fatigue and the dimming of memory. The first one we have just discussed, but the second is equally important. Alcohol poisons the cerebral cells very effectively, if only temporarily. That row with, the wife, that unpleasant interview with the boss, that nasty twinge of conscience, that feeling of blueness—all of these things fly away under benign influences of an “honest mug of beer.” Of course, they return in an even more potent form after the drug has had its effect, but •we have lived happy hours in the meanwhile. The fatigue question, however, is ever with us. The flapper goes to a party “thrown” by someone with whom she was out till all hours the night before. If nature had her way, all the members of the group would have gone to bed at sundown to make up for , lost time. They begin to find things dull; someone —or perhaps more than one —hides a yawn. What is wrong? The party needs stimulating. Bring forth the cocktails and the deed is done. One cannot threaten the constitution with very much harm in an occasional whipping-up of Nature in this way. j The drug—like aspirin—works its way out of the body and no harm is done. The trouble comes in constant stimulation. If you are always whipping a horse to further efforts, he won’t make them unless he is whipped. You also make things much harder for yourself—not to mention the fact that the overwork you give the horse will probably short en his life. Substitute your body and brain for the horse, and you have the problem in a nutshell.