OPIUM EATING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 30

OPIUM EATING.

Three Stages of Existence-How' The Takers of the Drug Are Lured Into BondageHorrible Sufferings of the Victims-Fatal Fascination of the Habit in its Earlier Stages. ' The sun was darkness to the l'ght That tilled this Eljaium land so bright, The very light-beams sang soit airs To free the soul from atl its cares; These dying light-beams music opent, ri ranßmute themselves to choices! scent! For morphia's power could even doom <• ' The very light to die perfume. Ever since the very earliest times men of, all nations have been in the habit of using some kind of narcotic or stimulant to soothe their nerves, and different countries', have each their own peculiar narcotic for .the above purpose. The Egyptian and Persian prefer hemp (nashish), the South American his caco, and in Siberia a kind of fungus is used, but it is reserved for the Chinese poppy (next to tobacco) to take precedence of them all as a grand human nervine soother. , There,, can be little doubt but that' the ,poppy (papaver somniferuvi) > was cultivated^ in China for at least 10,000 years before it Was known in Europe. The white poppy was cultivated there when Confucius liyed, and the opium was used and even called by the same name as it now is, qpuyung. It is all. nonsense to blame England for forcing the drug upon the Chinese; they used it long before the English ever supplied them with it, and no doubt there were as many opium-. eaters and^smokers in the country then, as at the present time. Throughout all time the cultivation of the opium poppy has received the greatest attention. Upon no crop was so much attention lavished, for to the poor Chinese the success of a crop of opium meant food, raiment, strength, and surcease from sorrow —a palliative for all the irritations and worries of life; and as such, it is" not only treasured, but regarded and spoken of as " God's best gift to man." During the time the Chinese are tending The Young Poppy Plants, they lavish upon them a kind of worship. Mystic stone rites that hold cloud-spirits in abeyance are performed, and tom-toms are beaten to frighten off bad spirit 3, and prayers are said to the central Deity in the Josshouse, and a promise of an opium offering is made if the Deity only ensures a good crop. So much for the reverence held towards the poppy by the Chinese. And well might they . reverence it, for if the poppy has not already undisputed sway over his nature or willpower, it shall very soon have. ,• Our preconceived ideas of the effects of opium on our system are hardly correct. It is quite true that the early stages of our opium-eaters' existence is that of supreme happiness. There is no sorrow or trouble, no reverses in fortune —no, not even the death of the most affectionate friend can move him. He passes through this stage of his career in supreme indifference to all outward impressions, for his mind is hedged in by poppy groves, and through the secret paths he loves to wander undisturbed, taking a peep out at the world, which is now, painted to suit his taste, in false and glowing. colours. There is no part of an opium-eater's existence that passes so swiftly by as this period of unreal bliss. I can call it by no other name, for so long as these few pleasant years of his life last, he can carve out of a hell a paradise for himself by simply swallowing a few grains of opium. Is it then any wonder that we poor opium-eaters are brought step by step to the state .that so surely awaits us upon entering the next stage of our existence, for it must 'b9 borne in mind that there are' three stages of an opium-eater's life, each in every case differing from that which precedes it. This is not generally known or mentioned by physicians, but I, as an opium-eater who has seen all of these stages —l, who have partaken of the sweets, and have drunk the"'bitterest, drugs that the opium cup ever tendered to mortal man, know something surely about the different phases of the life led by an opium-eater. It is not at first that the new beginner in opium-eating feels the real effects of the drug as a mental panacea for all the irritations that vex his soul. He must go through a certain constitutional process* of inuring his system to the use of the drug before he reaches that stage that unfolds the glories of the first true period of an opium-eater's existence. To the person first beginning to use the drug much constitutional disturbance is the result, as if poor nature was in itself conscious of the terrible wrongs about to be affected upon it; and small doses at this time oause vomiting and headache, together with peculiar kind of dizziness in the head and extreme constipation. During this time above spoken of the opium does not produce the pleasant dreaming of the De Quincey kind, but only a sleepiness, and it is not till this effect passes away that the novice begins to know what the charms of opiumeating really are; at first he has been taking opium to produce sleep, but now he finds that after taking the drug it only causes An Increase of Mental Excitement instead. At this time he wonders that although he does not sleep, yet he gets up in the morning as much refreshed as if he had; and has had a very pleasant night's dreaming into the bargain. Oh, foolish and weak mortal, well would it be for you if you could think otherwise. The impressions the young opium-eater has at this time in his mind are always of a like order. He goes to rest after taking his dose to dream the same thing over again. It may be, however, that the external impressions of the day are misinterpreted, and these are woven into his visions during the night. Now, gradually, as the victim advances in the habit, so gradually but surely do his dreams become part of himself. They are woven into his very nature, and he feels that to live in good terms with himself he must dream his favourite dreams each night else something will go wrong with his mental machinery. Still as the opium-eater advances in this stage he occasionally takes a larger dose than usual. He has now many reasons for this, and these excuses are founded upon very slight causes. Here is an example of one: The sky to-night looks dark and threatening) and heavy clouds scud fast across the moon's

pale face. There is a sudden fall of temperature, &c It is just a night like this the soul feels sad, and fain would be withdrawn within itself ; then, taking enough of the *' soul soother," I am once more in the land of dreaps, and now defy all the storms that rage without. The continual use of opium soon brings the system to such a state that instead of producing a " soul mirage," as it is aptly termed, it produces nothing but a feeling of satisfying an inwaid craving. It is now only taken to prevent suffering, and must be taken in immense quantities to do that. When the opium-eater has arrived at this stage of his career he is in a terrible position, for he vainly tries to produce the pleasant sensations of former times by doubling up the dose. This plan does not very long succeed, for instead of beautiful dreams The Enlarged Dose Produces Horrible Visions. vomiting, and other forms of dreadful suffering, only known to the man who has " run the muck." When this period of the opium disease has arrived every remedy is tried to stop the use of the drug. The sufferer vainly decreases the dose, but this only increases his torments, and he then returns to his usual allowance and is met with the same suffering. No matter what he tries for a respite only heaps more woes on his head. Every nerve in his body now cries for opium, but the stomach cannot retain it long enough to digest, or rather transfer it to the nerves — it is now reserved for the demon to exact the last mite of reward for what it had given to its poor victim at the early stages of his dreamy life. There are now no De Quincey visions — all these have been laid aside for the most terrible pains that can be pictured. For as no one but an opium-eater can form an idea of this exquisite torture, it is useless to try to compare it to any other kind of Buffering known to mortal man. To be burned by slow fire would be fun to the former. It is a strange fact that at the latter end of the opium-eater's existence, that in proportion to his sufferings and woes, so in the same ratio does he love to dwell upon the Pleasures of His Early Experiences an the use of the drug. And it is due to this very fact that so much evil is done by way •of encouraging others to begin the use of ■opium. To this cause and no other alone •does a man begin the use of the drug, purely for the sake of mental hallucinations. I have never known an opium-eater but loved to talk in glowing terms of his early life, and I have known many. I may, before going further, state that physicians are, as a general rule, not so well informed on the pathology of the opium habit as the public are in the habit of giving medical men credit for ; and the chief reason for this is due to the fact that few, if any, opium-eaters ever present or expose themselves, or solicit treatment from a physician. It is quite unlike drunkenness, for the latter is patent to every eye, while that of opium lies hid in the deepest recesses of privacy. It is true some cases come forward from the depths and stand out upon a dark background in prominent and bold relief, and behind all is shrouded in a darkness through which the intelligent pysician — with the exception of a single individual — has never succeeded in penetrating.