Posted by Quintal on January 22, 2007, at 1:38:00
According to Richard Davenport-Hines in his book "The Pursuit of Oblivion":
"Proprietary brands were marketed in Britain in capsules and elixirs under the trade names Parafynol, Dormison and Oblivon. Oblivon was known as 'the confidence pill' because it was advertised to help with such emergencies as public speaking, job interviews, asking for pay rises and visiting the dentist. There were reports of brides using Oblivon to gain confidence as they walked down the aisle to marry and of dogs being dosed with it on Fireworks Night. 'So many of my patients suffer from a lack of self-confidence,' a Surrey physician explained. 'Instead of facing their problems, reorganising their lives, they just beg for something to shield them from reality. I try to give them advice, but I can't leave my surgery to sort out their domestic problems. All I can do is give them a drug.' As many as a million of these sea blue capsules (costing fourpence each) were sold weekly until August 1955, when the supply of Oblivon in Britain was restricted to medical prescription."
My grandmother told me a while ago she was given these by the chemist for tension headaches. Does anyone else know of somebody who used to use them or similar drugs? Ahhh the good old days of Benzedrine inhalers sold in corner shops, opiates OTC at the pharmacy and Coca Cola laced with cocaine from the grocery store.............
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:725064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070119/msgs/725064.html