Morphine & Whiskey Doctors: A History of Addiction in the Old Wild West...

Modern narcotic messaging can be traced back 150 years prior, when the United States of America was still in its infancy, but its drug trade was in full swing. Traveling doctors and medical minds alike were traversing the western territories with the same message Purdue Pharma used in the 21st century, telling their patients, “do not be afraid. This opioid will not hurt you.”

It’s a tall tale as old as time, and in the wild west, made for one of the most fascinating—if not tragic—epidemics of American society, of American history, and of American legacy.

This is the story of morphine and whiskey, the doctors who prescribed it, and the crisis of frontier addiction that followed…

Chapters:

Introduction 0:00
Wild West, Wild Doctors 2:03
Frontier Addiction 17:06

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