Menace in the West : Colorado and the American Experience with Drugs, 1873-1963

Drugs pervaded everyday life in early Colorado: territorial doctors prescribed opiates for everything from toothaches to typhoid fever, cocaine was sold in bars and mining camp commissaries, and popular elixirs, tonics, and cordials -- laced with liberals doses of opium and cocaine -- were bought at the local drugstore and enjoyed by society's elite.

Powerful narcotics even found their way into radical, though ill-fated, cures for alcoholism.

Through meticulous research of newspaper, legal documents, official reports, and personal correspondence, Henry O.

Whiteside examines the course and impact of the drug legacy in Colorado -- from frontier medicine to drugs' ultimate status as a public enemy and perceived inciter of violence and crime.

Menace in the in the West touches on racial fears, the passing of initiative from local to state to federal levels, and legislative response to media and public outcry.

This unprecedented look at Colorado's experience with drugs is as immediate and thought-provoking as today's headlines and will be of interest to readers who follow the social and medical history of Colorado and the West.