War on Old People
On my worst digestive days, Paregoric would bring relief.
Ben Steinby Ben Stein
June 8, 2026, 10:10 PM
A collection of vintage “soothing syrups” displayed on shelves. These old-fashioned remedies were once common household medicines. (American Medical Association, Arthur Joseph Cramp, 1914)
For almost all of my life, I have suffered from colitis. This is what you think it is: gut pain accompanied by constipation and diarrhea. This problem hit me in class, on long car trips, and most especially when I was being yelled at by my mother.
It hit its worst in the summer of 1966. Anxiety about entering Yale Law School. A struggle by yours truly about girlfriends. I had two choices, both fabulously great women. An acute shortage of money. A job at the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The terribly hot and humid days and nights. I did not have an Air-Conditioned Car. It was a nightmare and daymare.
One night, my pain was so extreme that I called my family doctor, Stanley Moskovitz, at 3 AM and begged for meds. He answered my call. There was a 24-hour drugstore a few blocks away on Connecticut Avenue, NW. Savior Dr. Moskovitz called in a few ounces of “Paregoric.” I took a good swallow, and next thing I knew, the pain had stopped. Not only that, but I was happy.
https://spectator.org/war-on-old-people/
