This is an argument which, if true, makes it equally proper for not
only men, but women and children, to use opium, brandy, or tobacco as
stimulating principles, provided they are used temperately. But if it
be granted that perfect health and strength can be gained and secured
without these stimulants, and that their peculiar effect is to diminish
the power of the system in exactly the same proportion as they stimulate
it, then there is no such thing as a temperate use, unless they are
so diluted as to destroy any stimulating power; and in this form they
are seldom desired.
The other argument for their use is, that they are among the good
things provided by the Creator for our gratification; that, like all
other blessings, they are exposed to abuse and excess; and that we
should rather seek to regulate their use than to banish them entirely.
This argument is based on the assumption that they are, like healthful
foods and drinks, necessary to life and health, and injurious only by
excess. But this is not true; for whenever they are used in any such
strength as to be a gratification, they operate to a greater or less
extent as stimulants; and to just such extent they wear out the powers
of the constitution; and it is abundantly proved that they are not,
like food and drink, necessary to health.
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