Drug overdose deaths in the US are estimated to have been around 59,000 in 2016 and addiction is on the rise. But drug addiction and deaths have always been a part of our history – on the Mayflower, the doctor carried a kit with an early form of laudanum. Cocaine, heroin, opium, alcohol, marijuana . . . our grandparents used all of these to cure their illnesses – often unknowingly. Addiction isn’t new: patent medicines weren’t usually patented (no one wanted to share the ingredients) – and they weren’t regulated, either.
The FDA was formed in 1906 but it was years before true regulation took place. From the 1800’s through the 1930’s, patent medicines were sold to cure everything from baldness to serious diseases. Some “cures” were harmless sugar water and some were strong drugs. Laudanum, for instance (which included opium, alcohol, and morphine), was used to relieve coughing, diarrhea, and general pain.
Below are just some of the cures used by both doctors and patent medicine sellers for ailments. As you can tell, the same powerful drugs were in almost every medicine:
* Arsenic and mercury to treat syphilis (used until penicillin was discovered in the 1940’s!)
* Heroin tablets to relieve asthma symptoms
* Cocaine drops for toothache
* Cocaine as an anesthetic – used by both surgeons and dentists
* Bayer Heroin (the actual name) for coughs, menstrual cramps, and migraines
* Heroin as a cure for morphine addiction
* Opium to calm babies and cure asthma (yes, infants were given this!)
Seeing is believing – take a look at some of these “cures” and where they were sold:
Coke – the “intellectual beverage.”
The cocaine (coca) cured “headaches, neuralgia, hysteria, and melancholy”.
Nothing like radium to cure a headache!
Sweet face – dispensing opium? Probably!
One night cough syrup
Contains alcohol, marijuana, chloroform, and opium – taken 3 times a day. That would suppress more than a cough!
Good idea to give the kids cocaine?!
Stop teething discomfort
Give ’em morphine!
Opium, marijuana, & chloroform
Cures migraines, diarrhea, and more.
Morphine, codeine – of course they don’t cry . . .
They’ve passed out!
Oh yes, smoke to ease your asthma!
Often taken for “female illnesses”
Contained alcohol and opium
Snake venom
May, or may not (please not!) have contained snake venom.
Hair tonic
Thickens hair, restores gray hair to its original color, cures dandruff and prevents baldness – we want this now! But what was in it?
Lots of options even back then!
Drug shelf in a country store
Get rid of fat!
Lose 2 to 5 lbs per week – just by taking “purely vegetable” oil? Hah!
Wear an electrified corset!
Oh sure, like corsets weren’t uncomfortable enough!
Electricity cures “nerves“
Cures “depression, impotence, and fatigue”
Ouch!!! Look closely at where the electricity is dispensed . . .
R. S. Bernard’s diarrhoea medicine
“diarrhoea” medicine patent with photo of the inventor – Robert S. Bernard
1928 prescription for alcohol
During Prohibition, you had to have a prescription.
Opium and alcohol
Offensive – and “herbal“
Wonder what was really in it?
Researched and written by Kathy Pinna for Ancient Faces ~ July 26, 2017
Tall Bear, Medicine Man, 1898
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