Regulations sought on sale of opium
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Aug. 1, 1889: The Board of Health “brought up the matter of the unrestricted sale of opium in the city, saying that it is a much worse evil than whiskey, and is growing worse every day,” The Times reported.
City health officer Dr. Grandville MacGowan said “the servant girls are getting to use it, and it is being sold over the counters of drug stores even to children.”
“What had brought it particularly to his notice was that he had found it in use in a very respectable family, where a young lady had commenced using the drug ‘just for fun,’ and it had got such a hold on her that she is now a confirmed ‘fiend,’ ” The Times reported.
MacGowan proposed a law that would make it illegal to sell opium without a prescription.
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