HEMP-SMOKING IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26515, 1 September 1951, Page 2

HEMP-SMOKING IN BRITAIN

“HABIT GAINING A HOLD”

(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, August 29. “There is no doubt that the smoking of ‘reefers’ —cigarettes containing Indian hemp opiate—is growing among young people in Britain,” says a correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” accredited to Scotland Yard, .in a survey of the spread of the drug traffic in the United Kingdom.

“Current reports on such traffic certainly offer no ground for complacency.”

The correspondent says that disclosures about the smoking of drugged cigarettes in Britain have caused more public concern than they might have done had they not come after the evidence brought to light in New York recently of the alarming extent to which the drug habit has grown among youths in that city. He adds that,the greatest problem with which the British police officer has to deal is the type of young girl that is being encouraged to smoke Indian hemp cigarettes by coloured men in London and the big provincial cities.

“Reports to the Home Office show that large numbers of coloured men have infiltrated into Britain recently from the West Indies and Africa because of stories of high wages. Many of these immigrants arrive as stowaways. Some manage to hide quantities of Indian hemp before beinc oiPi’ht. They are nearly all British subjects, and cannot be deported. After a sho r t term of imprisonment they are issued with ration cards. They fail to get employment, retrieve their hidden hoard of Indian hemp, and start pedd’ing it among the large coloured : colonies.

“It is mainly these men who are encouraging young British girls to smoke drugged cigarettes. The police are satisfied. however, that for the moment the smoking of these ’reefer’ cigarettes is confined ma’nly to young girls of the t*pe who became camp folio'-’ ers when American ttoons in large »umb°rs were stationed here during the war.

! “Young girls of this type are now frequenting dance halls cbean cafes, "nd saloons used almost exclusively by coloured men. | “-rhe amount of Indian hemp nut ; into ‘reefer’ cigarettes—usually between six »n-i seven grain®—is however, slowly being increased and ’he’r n’-tce from 5s to 7s 6d eacK outs th->m "dthin reach of th»se girls. Arnone I this r°stricted class the' habit is getting I a hold."