DANGEROUS DRUGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15902, 13 April 1912, Page 10

DANGEROUS DRUGS.

The evidence concerning tho increase in the use of drugs and-the growth of the “drug habit” that has been given before the Pure Food Commission in Sydney by a representative of the Pharmaceutical Society, probably could bo duplicated in almost any country in tho world. Our own Pharmacy Board is a rather modest body, but it occasionally takes tho public into its confidence and deplores the prevalence of the drug habit and the facilities that are enjoyed

by casual purchasers. A few weeks ago the' Board discussed a proposed Poisons Bill and certain amendments of the Pure Foods Act to cover the importation of drugs, and. these are matters that should command the attention of the Legislature. Suicide, through the agency of a certain poisonous preparation, has been lamentably frequent in New Zealand and Australia during the past year or two, and the details of many cases that havo been investigated in the Coroners’ Courts have revealed the need for the adoption of strong measures to restrict tho sale of poisonous substances in forms which probably were not contemplated when tho exists ing Poisons Act was framed. It is difficult, of course, to shape legislation that will provide complete safeguards for tli© public against dangerous drugs, and it appears to be necessary for those who are charged with this duty to be continually on the watch for fresh developments. The British Pharmaceutical Society a few weeks ago decided to advocate the addition to the schedules of the Act which restricts the sale of poisons in tho Old Country of certain derivatives of two scheduled poisons, sulphonal and barbituric acid. Some of tho drugs which have been derived during recent years from these two bases have done a great deal of harm. Veronal, which is said to produce sleep without subsequent depression, has been used recklessly, though little is known of its action on the constitution because it operates on lines that are quite different from those which have been made familiar by many poisons. It has been stated by authorities in London that “ a perfectly ordinary normal dose of veronal taken at night to induce sleep may cause death.” The inference is that the deleterious effects of the drug accumulate in the system and at last a very slight addition to the burden carried by the organs may prove fatal. Hardly a week passes in London without an inquest on some unfortunate person who has taken veronal or some similar drug in ignorance of its properties and action. There are "aany insidious drugs which may be had bv any purchaser at a chemist’s shop, and though th© chemists do their best to check the growth of harmful habits they require more assistance than they are receiving from prohibitory legislation. The menace of the drugs is as grave in this country as it is in Australia, and the irresponsible use of these agents of physical and moral destruction should be prevented by every possible means.