The widespread use of patent cough medicines is due largely to the
fact that many persons avoid consulting a physician about so trivial
an ailment as an ordinary cold, or are reluctant to pay a medical fee
for what seems a slight indisposition and hence attempt to doctor
themselves.
Catarrh is a very prevalent disease in America, and consequently
numerous catarrh remedies have been devised, most of which contain in
a disguised form the pernicious drug, cocaine. Laws have been enacted
which require on the labels a declaration of the contents of the
preparation, both as to the kind of drug used and the amount, and the
choice of accepting or refusing such mixtures is left to the
individual. But the great mass of people are ignorant of the harmful
nature of drugs in general, and hence do not even read the
self-accusing label, or if they do glance at it, fail to comprehend
the dangerous nature of the drugs specified there. In order to
safeguard the uninformed purchaser and to restrict the manufacture of
harmful patent remedies, some states limit the sale of all
preparations containing narcotics and thus give free rein to neither
consumer nor producer.
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