Cocaine as an Intoxicant

but we occasionall}7 come across cases where the victims have contracted the habit from the very beginning. We do not know how the people of Calcutta have derived their knowledge of the intoxicating property of a costly drug which has hitherto been only handled by medical men, but facts collected tend to show that they have got it from their Bhagalpore brethren where cocaine has become a social necessity amongst the less thoughtful class of men. The inebriates say that the hilarity it produces is almost instantaneous and is followed by 110 deleterious results. The noviciates, as a rule, take it quite secretly during the early hours of the night, whilst confirmed and veteran eaters take it duriug all hours of the day. It is generally taken in the form of tabloids or powder and chewed with betel leaves (pan, piper betel), and slaked lime. Unlike ranja or bhang it requires no special preparation. 'The habit once acquired cannot be easily "iven up. I took special interest in the treatment of a penitent who brought ruin upon himself find his family by contracting cocaine habit. The symptoms watched and recorded in this case as we as the reports of