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Home My WebLink AboutThe Seaforth News, 1957-02-07, Page 7"Relaxing" Pills Can Kill You! A while ago in an Edmonton, Alta., court James E. Short, for= neer DEW line pilot, blamed sleeping pills for loss of his'. pilot's licence, his driver's li- cence, a near -nervous break- down and the blackouts he had suffered while driving his car. "The law must go after that pill Nand have it removed from the market," he said. "It's ter- rible; it's ruined me." Arrested after his car was seen weaving down a road,. bouncing off curbs, Short was tined, $18 for carless driving. But the most important result of the trial was that the sleep- ing pill in quesion was put on Canada's "prescription only" list. ' pilladdiction, Or pillcoholism, has become.a threat to the na- tional health in Canada, second only . to alcoholism, and more serious than addiction to nar- cotics. It involves sleeping pills; bar- biturates; "happy" pills; and pepup pills or "bennies", like benzedrine. The Department of Health and Welfare at Ottawa, aware of the growing problem of pill- addiction among Canadians, ad- mits it has no idea of its actual extent. Most medical doctors are in- creasingly aware of the dangers in over -prescribing sleeping, pep -up, tranquillizer pills, and barbiturates. Certainly, the doc- tors and manufacturers of the pills themselves, can not be blamed. Yet few Canadians realize the tiny white pills they take, to induce sleep, relax, or pep themselves up, can lead to broken health, failure in busi- ness life, an emotional crack- up and sometimes death. Here are the few available `facts about pilladdiction in Can - da: Canadians are consuming more han 18 tons of bar- biturates,' sleeping and tranquil- izer pills each year — enough to put every man, woman, and child in Canada asleep every night for one week. These pills and tablets kill more people each year than any poison. In Ontario, an estimated one-tenth of cases admitted to mental hospitals are pilladdicts. There are four times as many pilladdicts as opiate addicts, and one third as many pilladdicts as alcoholics. Some of the most authorita- tive information on the prob- lem comes from Dr. Robert Gordon Bell, head of the Be11 Clinic in Willowdale, Ont. (a Toronto suburb), and a leading Quits Canadian medical authority on addictions. "One tenth of my patients," says Dr. Bell, "have pill prob- lems. There is true addiction, and it is one of the most difficult addictions to treat clinically." Dr, Bell has seen three cases of addiction to pep -up tablets, which contain caffeine, codeine, phenacetin, and acetylsalicylic acid, and can be bought with- out prescription for minor pains. In its issue of October, 1955, the Canadian Service Medical Journal tells of a 60 -year-old war veteran, who went from a barbiturate to another non- prescription pill for relief, and ate up to 100 a day. This pilladdict saw "little men" running around the ceil- ing of his room when he had a "pill jag" on, He once imag- ined the fire department came in 'through his window and put him in a coffin -like black box. He found that, one or two bot- tles of beer "soothed him ;down" after the terrifying hallucina- tions brought on by, pilladdic- tion. Pepup pills become popular during the last war, when flyers on long, hazardous night 'mis- sionsused' them to stay awake and alert: Probably partly due to these same night bombing runs, Adolph Hitler was well- known for .his addiction to "bennies". He ate them constantly and worked all night. Following a crackdown by U.S. and Canadian health au- thorities, pep -up pills sold over the drugstore counter without prescription were weakened, and these milder "bennies" are still used by many students cramming for examinations. The problem with these is that their strength increases in proportion to the number taken. No pills, in fact, that are sold without prescription are dan- gerous in the dosage recom- mended by the manufacturer— nor are stronger pills danger- ous, as prescribed by your doc- tor, providing he is aware of the dangers of over -prescription. One of the sides to the prob- lem is the easy availability of many potentially dangerous types of pills. Some types of sleeping and tranquilizer pills are available without prescrip- tion — sold over the counter in drug stores. A normal person can become a pilladdict in either of these ways: . By taking pills to overcome some ailment, and developing a dependence on them, or a lik- ing for their effect. Not long ago, an Oshawa, Ont., man was convicted of forg- ing a doctor's name to a pre- scription for barbiturates. The doctor testified in court that the man had been an alcoholic and had been treated with barbitu- rate drugs to overcome his ad- diction. He developed a new ad- diction to the barbiturate druks that had been used to cure him. A Monreal woman complain- ed to her doctor she was highly strung and worries were play- ing havoc with her nerves. He prescribed tranquilizers. They gave her such a pleasant sense of relaxation, she clung to them, even when she had to double and finally triple her initial dosage, to get the same results. Finally, she began getting pre- scription from two or three doc- tors; she ended up saving her pills for weeks to go on a real "binge". "Most addicts," says Dr. J. D. Armstrong, psychiatrist at Tor- onto's „Brookside Clinic, "are people unable to face life's problems. They need help to meet difficulties in their work, in family relationships. They find that 'crutch' in pills, "Most pilladicts are bored women, whose families have grown up and no longer need them; tired women; women who long for a social life they can't have." There is no simple * plesolution to the growing problem of pill- addiotion among Canadians. To begin with, the pills are a use- ful, necessary part of medical care, properly prescribed and ATE SKATE, FELT REALLY WHEELY — Skating chimp — if nbt a skating champ — is two-year-old Vickie Lyn, resident of a pet shop. Vickie, according to her skating instructor, Is progressing foster than human pupils of the same age TO THE CABLES UP BY MORITZ — Newly inaugurated cable car line, above, is Switzerland's haghest climbing. It leads from the railway station at. Bernina -Hauser, near St. Moritz, to the Diavolezza, at a height of 9,000 feet. The cable car cabin can carry 50 passengers, takes 11 minutes for the trip. taken as directed. It would be senseless to eliminate the good they accomplish because of the dangers in their misuse, Dr. Bell and Dr. Anderson say a thorough study should be made to determine the extent of the problem in Canada; and that clinics should be establish- ed to treat the pilladdict. Dr. Bell, at his clinic, has seen the final results of "tranquil- izers" administered without competent supervision. "Pilladdicts are 'more diffi- cult to treat than alcholics," says he — describing them as stupified zombies. "They can't immediately be cut off the drug, without the likelihood of con- vulsions or delirium tremens. Some addicts are so bad,, they can't walk past a drugstore window, says Dr. Bell, without stopping and staring in fascina- tion — like an alcoholic in front of a shelf of liquor. — By Fred Edge in "Liberty" Magazine. Real Revolution In Rubber -Making Although many usable sub- stitutes for rubber have been made in recent years it is not un - synthetically. Now it has been able to make "natural" rubber synthetically. Now ithas been done by Firestone Rubber scien- tists. According to a report in the Scientific American the in- gredients of the synthetic con- sist of isoprene, a liquid that can be derived from a number of substances, and the metal, lith- ium. Upon being heated to 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the pres- ence of lithium, isoprene is changed from liquid to natural rubber. Like many other dicoveries this one was built on earlier studies. Back in 1879 a French- man named G. Bouchardat heat- ed natural rubber to a high temperature and obtained a vo- latile liquid called isoprene. He conceived the idea that isoprene might be a chemical building stone of rubber, which indeed it turned out to be. Between 1909 and 1912 isoprene was synthes- ized in Germany and used as the basis for synthetic rubber 'pro- duction. Since then an immense variety of "elastomers" have been synthesized, some with qualities that far surpass natural rubber in special applications. Some substitutes have tensile strength of 11,000 pounds per square inch compared with 4,500 in natural rubber. One remarkable synthetic rub- ber that promises to revolution- ize the tire industry is made from a chemical called polyurethane. Its chief use at present is as foam rubber for upholstery, mattres- ses.and insulation. With further development this rubber will make excellent tire treads. giving 100,000 miles wear, outlasting most cars. It will be available in any, color because carbon black, essential for adding toughness to natural rubber, will not be required: Tires. made of it may even not require fabric. Considering this and other developments it seems more and more likely that the man and the jacked -up car by the side of the r o ad will become a• rarer and rarer sight , There was a time within the memory of many when a trip to the country was sure to call for at least one tire change, perhaps more. Tires are getting tougher and tougher with the promise that soon the jack will. be outmoded equip- ment in any car. — Hartford Courant. Whaling Days Scrimshaw may sound like the - name of a Scotland Yard detect tive or a character in a Dickens novel, but it is neither. It is the lost art of making pictures on a sperm whale's teeth or lower jawbone, or of carving - useful or merely decorative ob- jects from these. The activity, is often referred to as "scrim- shandering." Where the words came from, nobody knows .. . During the second dog -watch of the cruises that sometimes - lasted two or three years, the tars were given leisure to sing chanteys, to jig, spin yarns, do their mending, play dominoes or.. chess, get out their fiddles or flutes, or open their jack-knives and do some scrimshaw carving or engraving. The long lonely voyage brought forth a crop of objects carved in the round — spoons, jagging wheels for cut- ting pie crusts, imitation chairs and lengths of rope cane - heads, walking sticks, doll beds, miniature whales and vessels, chessmen, dominoes, toys, and vases. Or they "scratched" on the surfaceof the teeth or lower jawbone, pictures inspired by thrilling whaling scenes, Godey fashion illustrations, historic and patriotic engravings, and also memories of their homes, vil- lages and families. They copied, or else they depended solely on memory, imagination or ob- servation for inspiration. That some of them must have learned a trick or two about carving from coastal China and from Pacific Island aboriginals seems not unlikely. Carving and etch- ing bone, horn, ivory and ebony was nothing new. Horns were carved by soldiers of the. War of 1812 — well before whaling tars adopted the scrimshaw hobby. Esquimaux and other ancient aboriginal tribes had for long been doing such primitive carving and "illustration.' Yet, the American whaling scrim- shaw crop is quite a separate and readily distinguished mani- festation. — From "Pictorial_ Folk Art New England to Cali- fornia," by Alice Ford. 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MEDICAL IT'S PROVEN — EVERY SUFFERER OF RHEUMATIC PAINS OR NEURITIS SHOULD TRY DIXON'S REMEDY, MUNRO'S DRUG STORE 335 Elgin, Ottawa. $1.25 Express Prepaid RHEUMATISM YOU have tried everything without success. Why not try the most effec- tive and inexpensive remedy, For ;1, we will send you postpaid 6 one ounce packets of Indian Celery Seed, enough or one month Full directions on each envelope. Laval Seeds, 450 Labelle Blvd., L'Abord•a-Plouffe, Que. POST'S ECZEMA SALVE BANISH the torment of dry eczema rashes and weeping akin troubles. Post's Eczema Salve will not disap- point you. Itching, scaling and burn- ing eczema; acne, ringworm, pimples and foot eczema will respond readily to 'the stainless odorless ointment re- gardless of how stubborn or hopeless they seam. Sent Post Free on Receipt of Price PRICE 93.00 PER JAR POST'S REMEDIES 2865 5t. Clair Avenue East TORONTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEN AND WOMEN SELF Voice Culture, at your home. 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SWINE WE attended the Landrace annual meeting held in Columbia, .Missouri, Jan 5th and talked with. some of the largest and best swine men in the United States, and are more convinced than everthat thepure bred Landrace Is the bacon hog of the future. Wean ling sows and boars, four month old Bovis and boars, serviceable boars, guaranteedelivery,all from sows portImmediate d m stock. Catalogue. FERGUS LANDRACE SWINE FARM FERGUS ONTARIO WANTED WANTED — Steam Traction Engine — state make, condition,' price. Box 155, 123 Eighteenth Street, New Toronto, Ontario. MERRY MENAGERIE k.' ' ." 1•24 kberPovav "When you wake up you'll love mice—understand? Love mice:" FOR SALE MILL, DWELLINGS AND MACHINE FOR JOINTING AND GLUING MILL WASTE AND CULL LUMBER INTO WIDE BOARDS AND CORES. For Particulars write to Box 280 Cahoots, Ont. 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