Official U.S. government statistics compiled in 1875…

Official U.S. government statistics compiled in 1875 estimate one hundred and twenty thousand Americans are opium addicts.

Opiates are easily available in the West in the nineteenth century, for instance, in a variety of patent medicines.

Physicians prescribe them freely, they are easy to obtain without prescription, and they are used by all social classes.

The extensive use of these medicines for various gynecological difficulties probably accounts for the high addiction rate among women, which is three times the rate among men.