Drugs on the Frontier

During the 19th century drugs were widely available and affordable. They were often in greater demand than alcohol. Used for medical treatment they often morphed into recreational. Women took it for the “vapors” or a bout of melancholy. Vapors was a term used for mental depression or hypochondria. Drugs were also a chief factor in a lot of violence in the Old West. Infants weren’t safe from these drugs. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for babies, for example, had 65 mg per fluid ounce,