With the modern concern about the possible over-use of opioids, it’s instructive to note that those drugs were in heavy use (and abuse) in the Old West.
One of the most popular forms was laudanum, where opiates were mixed with alcohol for a liquid drug. It was often prescribed for various aches and pains—especially female complaints surrounding menstruation and childbirth. Laudanum was very habit forming and was often used to commit suicide. It didn’t face government regulations unt

April 2017
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- The Luckiest Woman in America
- Between Yellowstone and Glacier, 3 Must-See Mining Ghost Towns
- Guns, Indians and the West
- Love The Hair, Sweetie
- Sink or Swim
- Colorful Phrases of the West
- An Exercise in Monotony
- Lessons From The Stagecoach
- A Biographer’s Take on Doc & Wyatt
- Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp
- When Doc Met Wyatt
- Globe, Arizona
- What’s Actor Dennis Weaver’s Story?
- Bucking Broncos and Breaking Barriers
- Bandit Queen Belle Starr
- Plump, Plumper, Plumpest
- Get Your Kicks on Route 66 with Doc and Wyatt
- Cyclone Bill
- The Loneliest Road to Old West History
- Laudanum In The Old West
- “Duck You, Sucker!”
- A Toast to Gold: 150 Years Later
- Road to Gold & Redemption
- Mexican Food: An Arizona Favorite
- The Nation Marched Forward During March
- The Dead Man In The Picture
- Texas Feud
- A Grave Discovery
- The Birth of a Wicked Son Reimagined
- Oh Annie, You Really Showed ‘Em
- What Music Did Gen. Santa Anna Request During The Alamo Battle?
- The Baca Float #5
- Stopping a Death Squad
- Guerrilla Warriors
- Roy Barcroft
- Hoot Gibson
Departments
- There’s Copper in Them Thar Hills
- Classic Gunfights: Doc Hits Bottom (but not much else)
- The Picnic Disease
- Why Do Western Actors Rarely Wear Spurs On Screen?
- What History Has Taught Me: Gary L. Roberts
- Did Old West Trains Have Bathrooms?
- How Did “Killer” Jim Miller Escape Justice For So Long?
- Hell on the Buffalo Range
- Did The “Buntline Special” Gun Really Exist?
- A First for Custer Firearms
- The Tombstone Collector