From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 26 June

Unequivocally, recreational drugs are a curse of modern society; and while their proliferation is much greater now than in times past, it is not a new phenomenon in civilisation.

RECENTLY, the unauthorised pictures of an AFL footballer using recreational drugs are regrettable; however, we should not be shocked. Indeed, it was ever thus.

The Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, wrote, “From the juice of the poppy and hemlock comes easy and painless death”.

In more modern times, post-war medicinal remedies, some of which were around for eons have since been banned. They were highly addictive.

In the 1940s and 50s there were various brands. Mothers kept a ubiquitous bottle of cough mixture in the kitchenette. A tasty, palatable, aniseed, liquorice, and chloroform combination, it was doled out, liberally, by the tablespoon. Invariably, they contained alcohol, cannabis, chloroform and morphia, skilfully combined with a number of other ingredients. Used as a treatment for varying states of depression, the readily available concoctions were swigged from the bottle and led to addictions.

In the same way, Vincent’s APC Powders (pink) – “Take Vincent’s with confidence” – the advertisement said; and Bex Powders (white) were eventually taken-off the market. Highly addictive, they contained phenacetin which contributed to renal failure.

By the 1800s, laudanum, an alcoholic extract containing around 10 percent powdered opium, was used as, ‘a panacea for all human woes; the secret of happiness’. Sydenham’s Laudanum was a mix of wine, beer, saffron, clove, cinnamon, and opium, and was used for treating headaches, cough and tuberculosis, gout, rheumatism, diarrhoea, menstrual pain, as well as melancholy – now knowns as depression.

Dating to the Renaissance (14th to 17th centuries), laudanum was used widely throughout Victorian England society. Many writers, poets, and artists, along with hoi polloi, became addicted – some hopelessly – including Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and Florence Nightingale.

Babies were spoon-fed laudanum. A United States advertisement for Atkinson and Barker’s Royal Infants’ Preservative, touted it for the relief of teething pain, bowel problems, flatulence, and convulsions. They neglected to mention the side effects of constipation, itching, respiratory distress, and constriction of the pupils. It claimed laudanum was “no stupefactive, deadly narcotic” but rather a “veritable preservative of infants.”

In 1849, Mrs [Charlotte] Winslow’s soothing syrup was launched. Advertised as providing relief for teething children, one mother wrote the New York Times extolling its effectiveness, “like magic, he soon went to sleep, and all pain and nervousness disappeared.” Hardly surprising given the mixture contained relatively harmless sodium carbonate and aqua ammonia, combined with a slug of morphine for good measure. Children ran the risk of being put to sleep permanently as a result of morphine overdose.

In 1911, The American Medical Association branded the syrup as a “baby killer.” Astonishingly, it remained on the market in the United Kingdom and Australia until 1930.

In Australia, laudanum has been commonly used from the first days of British colonisation. In 1897 the Queensland Government attempted to restrict the sale of opiates.

In 1925, after Australia joined an international treaty in Geneva, the International Convention relating to Dangerous Drugs, all sales were restricted by legislation.

Despite the decline in opiate formulations, usage remains common. Annually, more than three million Australians are approved for treatment.

Disturbingly, recreational drugs have become the reality of many people’s social lives. Realistically, it is a matter of supply and demand. The shift is such, the pendulum having swung, the correction will be a difficult one. Seemingly, nothing will eradicate them.

They are the modern, destructive scourge!

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald Mondays at 10.45am on 3BA and be contacted via [email protected].