Over a hundred years ago, anyone could go into a pharmacy and buy raw opium or any narcotic then known. Drugs weren't a social problem. Of course, the immediate family of the addict was blighted. But no more than the immediate family of the alcoholic then and now. Drugs were cheap and legal and there was no profit in causing anyone to take them. People felt that if a weak person chose to damage his already inferior brain, it was his choice and his death was no loss. They were right.