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…

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.

If money is the root of all evil, and the government controls the most money and is the printer of the currency, it can then be assumed that the government is evil…hmmmmmm

Governments aside, my point was just that in the old days joe public got hooked on what they trustingly thought was a harmless remedy. Ive been addicted to morphine for years now and its not much fun at least the doctor who first gave it to me for a broken back told me that would be the outcome. My point was non-political really, just an observation.

I was born in the 2nd world war and was a victim of bombing, and was found alive under some building rubble. As a child I suffered with asthma. and was prescribed ephedrine, from an early age. Although I had this problem I went on to be quiet successful as a club racing cyclist. Then on a big drugs clampdown I found ephedrine was one of the banned drugs! So then took to Potters Asthma Cigarettes. I inhaled them, and then my chest opened and I could race again! You know what, I felt very happy after the smoke. I put it down to my relief that my chest was clear, and working. Later, I lot of young boys from a collage near to a local branch of a big British chemist chain started to go and buy Potter’s cigs, and they could because there was no tobacco in them, they where just ‘herbal’ Their chemist’s must have wondered how they could be so popular, and must have analogized them. And this chain outlawed, and banned the asthma cigarettes from all their outlets. Potters I think stopped making them. I’m now sure it was Marie J.Warner.

It’s the love of money. Not money itself.

Those ads were pretty neat though, right guys? I have always appreciated ads from another time. It is like a glimpse into the past.

What a jerk.

Definitely interesting ads, thanks for sharing them thatjerk.

@Snuff Head: Here in the States, prior to 1937 (when it was placed on the Harrison Narcotics Act) a stick of Mary Joanna was the commonly accepted cure for an asthma attack, being one of the greatest natural bronchiodilators known. Interesting, though, that you could buy it at the chemist! I wonder if we had our own asthma cigs here…

The ads were superb, politics aside. I love social history and how folks lived before. Some of the old tobacco advertising is great, y’know the ‘most Doctors smoke Camel’ type stuff - wonderful.

Snuff was also recommended by Doctors for clearing Catarrh (ie. Snot) and for mild depression, malaise, etc. Technically, all the medicines listed are still in use for various ailments. Researchers have re-discovered one medicinal herb that was outlawed for no really good reason and realise how safe and useful it is (It was in those Asthma cigarettes.) Miles Nervine changed it’s marketing approach and is now known as Benadryl. Dentists still inject you with Novocaine. Opiates are still the most prescribed and abused substances on the planet. Very little seems to have changed.

Nice ads, thanks for posting. I had this in my pic folder:

@Jari T Hmmm. Could have used that on my last customer Tuesday evening.

@Mr_Snuffypants: Heh, too bad it doesn’t come in a spray can. Or perhaps it does?