idea there was widespread opium addiction in the United States itself.  But he was trained as a researcher so he set out to see for himself.  He toured the major cities and sent out hundreds of questionnaires to prison wardens, police chiefs, doctors and drug companies. The survey was not scientific, and the spotty responses left a huge margin for error, but Wright was now a man with a cause and he began to put the worst-case spin on everything he saw.  In short order he managed to convince himself that the U.S. not only had an opium problem, but that it was worse than China’s.^[6]

In truth, there was an opium problem in the United States, but hardly the “numberless dope fiends” Wright began to see.  At the turn of the century the typical American addict was a middle-aged Southern white woman strung out on laudanum (an opium-alcohol mix)^[7] and the highest credible estimates put the number of U.S. addicts at about three people in a thousand.^[8]  Others thought it was half that. Most of these people had become unwittingly dependent on the vast array of over-the-counter patent medicines that were laced with everything from morphine to cocaine. A popular cough syrup spiked with heroin was available by mail order: “It will suit the palate of the most exacting adult or the most capricious child.” ^[9]

At a time when medical science was still bleeding people with leeches, bottled pain-killers with this kind of power were a godsend.  Doctors everywhere prescribed them freely for every conceivable ailment because the patients always said they felt better. It was not until the late 1800s that the public began to realize that some of their favorite medicines could be highly addictive.  Ironically, just as Hamilton Wright was discovering that narcotics addiction in the U.S. was soaring out of control, it was actually on the decline.^[10]  All the leading authorities now  agree that addiction peaked around 1900, followed by a steady drop. The reason was simple common sense coupled with growing awareness.  The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 finally forced manufacturers to list ingredients on the label,