I was doing a search for snuff ads in Google and found this…http://www.pharmacytechs.net/blog/old-school-medicine-adsIt is amazing at what happens to items that were once administered at a safer level when they become illegal. It seems that when they become illegal, they then become a item that is taken at a unsafe level due to only being provided by people that want to advantage of its addictiveness and not it’s advantages…
Fantastic stuf, thanks for the link. It truly was a druggies paradise, although there’s still plenty of over the counter stuff for those so inclined to waste a few hours. Cough syrup remains a firm favourite although for different chemical reasons. And as for Asthma cigarettes - I can actually remember them in chemists shops when I was a kid so some of this stuff was still on the shelves just 30 odd years ago.
@ Snuffster It’s not so much about the druggies paradise per say, but a lot of those items were safe at the levels they were administered in those products. It was big “G” that decided that because they could be abused and that they must be taken off the market altogether and be made illegal. That’s when abuse really took off because the only people who obtained the products were the ones that abused them. Then of course a smugglers and drug dealers market was created to cater to the abusers. The abusers then taught others how to abuse the drugs and the drugs became even more notorious for abuse. All thanks to big “G”.
Talking about asthma cigs: I don’t suffer from actual asthma but, back when I smoked, whenever I felt a little shortness of breath I used to light up a cigarette, and it actually helped…
Prior to the Harrison Narcotics Act, it was believed that the US Constitution protected the rights of people to put whatever they liked into their own body. Can you imagine people making decisions for themselves, instead of wealthy government officials telling us what to do? Hahahaha.
Your right… when does it stop? Nobody knows. Meh, Government, modernized civilization’s ugly stepchild. We love it only because it’s ours.
We maybe compare the modern government too readily with the old. A lot of those old drugs got people rampantly addicted without them knowing what they were taking in a much more naieve age, and there were lots of cases of infant deaths due to them being fed morphine to keep them quiet. I pretty much detest modern government and am absolutely pro doing with your body whatever the hell you want but I think banning infant cough syrup with H in it was a reasonable enough move.
Perhaps someday modern medications will be displayed in this manner, such as Adderall, Ritalin, Ambien, Viagra? etc. You may want to hang on to any pharma propaganda! Pens, mugs, mousepads, literature, Rx bottles, and so on, they may become collector items in a hundred years. 
Who knows…
Prescription pills kill more people then other drugs. One of the reasons is that certian age groups don’t really respect them. The if it’s from a doctor it must be safe mentality. Interestingly a lot of the products shown aren’t the ones that have historicaly lead to the modern medicine situation. Nope there where many more dangerous and ineffective patent medicines available back then. Many of the drugs that did nothing at all are the ones that started the ball rolling to the point it is at today. Much of the problem had to do with mislabeling. The same thing is happening with herbs at this point. At least it’s not as likely to go so far just because the problems aren’t as severe. Frankly I think people should be allowed to do what they want to some extent but should have the resources to know what they are taking and I definatly support purity laws. Though these things change all the time. At one point in history Coca Cola (orginal formula) was investigated for it’s dangerous addictive additive caffine.
I agree to a point Bob. Why as an individual should I not have the choice to put anything in my body that I want. Be it medicine or body jewellry/modification, or any other chemical that humans have known to consume. Is it in the interest of public safety? Please. There are more accidents caused by drunk drivers than stoned drivers. what about all these pop stars and actors and such that or overdosing on prescription pills? Had another one, Greg Gerardo, die recently because of this. So the drugs that truly harm people are legal, while the ones that are minimal are demonized. All Im saying is make it all legal and let the ones who can’t handle it weed themselves out. Darwinism at work.
Here in the UK (where pharmacists are chemists) morphine is still available to the casual punter in the form of “kaolin and morphine”, A mixture that featured largely in my early life. It was supposedly a cure for stomachache, but was mostly used as a chemical cosh for the short-trousered. I can’t remember what it tasted of, but I always looked forward to it, so perhaps I was addicted. I don’t suppose it’s got much morphine in it now, and you’re not supposed to give it to children, either. Maybe snuffster’s right, and feeding kids with opiates is wrong. But, back then, we didn’t have all these problems with hyperactivity. To my mind, the oddest things at the chemist’s are the herbal cigarettes (no, not that sort of herb, but the stuff you’d cook with). My local druggist stocks them alongside the throat lozenges and I’m told they’re used by people who want to quit smoking. Because they don’t contain tobacco, they don’t have to have the health warnings, or the taxes, that apply to ordinary cigarettes or even snuff (not that any reputable chemist would sell snuff). That’s odd because, if all I’ve read is right, it’s the smoke that does the damage, not the nicotine, so you’d expect any nannyish state or health-conscious apothecary to have swept them under the counter at the very least. It’s not really odd though, just symptomatic of a spectacularly cynical and opportunistic fraud, with tobacco as the mark. The charitable might generously ascribe it to the crass stupidity of politicians, and the connivance of profiteering pharmacists who should know better. But the charitable are wrong - few politicians are quite as stupid as they think we are and, as thatjerk’s initial post reminds us, pharmacies are far from repositories of truth.
Its funny how people blame government instead of the business interests that manipulate it. I’m glad its there, as it is the only bulwark the people have against corporate servitude.
Remember Xander, government is always the problem.
Oh, right. I forgot. &_&
Gov ain’t the problem. Money is. If I had millions to spend, I could get a law passed too.
Everything wrong with the world can easily be traced back to money, the root of all evil. If there is a heaven and a hell then money is satans greatest accomplishment
Is it the money that’s evil, or the people that use it?
It’s the greed within people.
Or the people that seek it…? :~$
@9inchnails I agree completely. Unfortunately money is required in modern society to survive. Many people, if not most, are content to work for others and make it their goal in life to acquire currency in order to purchase “things”. Those whose values do not conform to societies materialism are essentially trapped in the system.