WHEN COUGH MEDICINE REALLY WORKED

‘One Night Cough Syrup’ with some remarkable ingredients, manufactured in Baltimore, 1888


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10 Comments
RCW
RCW
July 8, 2016 1:08 pm

Growing up in Towson, MD in the 1960’s, I remember Mom giving us kids Cheracol for coughs, which contained codeine (before the messianic busybody Puritans had their way), worked well and tasted good. I miss it. 🙂

RCW
RCW
July 8, 2016 1:24 pm

Forgot to mention Cheracol was available OTC.

harry p.
harry p.
July 8, 2016 1:53 pm

sounds like a party

jamesthewanderer
jamesthewanderer
July 8, 2016 2:04 pm

Sometimes I wish I was old enough to remember when Coca-Cola had real cocaine in it. Then again, I guess I’m old enough already!

Ed
Ed
July 8, 2016 2:07 pm

A bottle of One Night probably cost less than 20 cents, too.

ragman
ragman
July 8, 2016 2:54 pm

When I was a kid and had a nasty cough my Dad would go to the Drug Store(remember ’em?) get this stuff called Terpin Hydrate. He had to sign for it but no prescription. That shit really worked! It contained codeine like Cheracol. Not available since the 1990s, it was outlawed by the nanny state.

JIMSKI
JIMSKI
July 8, 2016 3:06 pm

When I get to coughing bad my doc gives me a pint of this terpentine and coconut tasting shit that puts me out for like 20 hours at a time. It is a non dreaming blackout sleep that is probably close to the sleep of the lotus ( hey cool I worked a Good Earth quote in a TBP post )

RCW
RCW
July 8, 2016 3:18 pm

By the way, in 1969 with no CPS to meddle, my brother & I were 6 & 8 years old respectively, took it by the tsp. not to get high, but because it allowed us to sleep and neither us became junkies. You know durn well that a few fools guzzled the stuff and ruined it for most who handled it responsibly. Regardless, many more matters like this were left in the hands of the individual to decide and not the bureaucrats. Also pertinent, Cheracol with codeine, although available without a script over-the-counter, was kept BEHIND the counter back in those “blue laws” days.

Didius Julianus
Didius Julianus
July 8, 2016 5:40 pm

This stuff, available in New Zealand, works very well and tastes like some of that dark brown cough medicine I used to get when I was a kid in the U.S. in the 1960s. Costs about $10 or less per bottle (NZ$) at the store. Much less harmful than more “modern” cough medicines:
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Each 10ml contains, per the bottle in my hand:
Menthol 4 mg, Camphor 9mg, Ipecacuanha 3.8 micoLiters, Liquorice Liquid Extract 240mg, Extract of Carrageenan 13mg.

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
July 8, 2016 6:10 pm

Cough syrup with codeine is still easy to get. Just ask your doc.

The best cough medicine I’ve ever had is called Benzonatate. It’s a tiny liqui-cap that looks like a gold pearl. One of those and it’s like you never had a cough to begin with. Amazing stuff!