THE DRUG SCANDAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 68, 22 March 1919, Page 14

THE DRUG SCANDAL

REMARKABLE REVELATIONS

During the last month there hava been several remarkable revelations regarding the growing drug habit (wrote the London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus in January). There is always, in every big city, an underworld of evil, and it would be false to say that London is worse than other capitals. But every now and then the public are surprised at the revelation of some widespread offence which had not been suspected. The renting of swell West End houses for gambling clubs; the orgies at Ciro's; the racketing and fur-niture-smashing of dance parties which sometimes lead almost to riot in ons or two of our very first hotels, are incidents that disturb the moralist, but which a man of the world looks upon as the froth of a-n overstrained condition of society. The spread of the drug habit is worse than gambling or the ebullitions of a few excited dancers. It is not difficult to explain. In part it is due to the increased restrictions in the sale of beer, wines, and spirits. In some cases the taking of narcotics1 is a reaction against the strain which has fallen, upon many persons through the war. But the chief cause can be traced to the hospitals-. Thousands of shell-shocked soldiers and other wounded men suffering from sleeplessness have been supplied with drugs while lying in the hospitals in France. Paraldehyde, opium, veronal, and cocaine are more frequently administered, and! are more easily obtainable, in the French hospitals than in England. The effect of these narcotics is so fascinating that a patient easily becomes a permanent victim, and every medical man knows the tricks to which people will resort to obtain the forbidden tiling. Within recent years the law has provided heavy penalties for anyone convicted, of dealing in opium, and the Defence of the Realm Act forbade traffic in cocaine, opium, and other narcotics. Nevertheless such is the craze for these drugs that there are smugglers who openly parade some of the West End streets for the purpose of selling cocaine or opium to purchasers whom they can trust. An article which a few years ago brought 15s an ounce now brings £10, and sometimes thrice that sum. ■■

Much light has been thrown upon this drug habit through an inquest on Miss Stewart, better known as "Billie" Carleton, a popular actress at the halls, and through a prosecution that followed her death. It has been revealed that "BiHie" Carleton was one of a small group of degenerates who met together for orgies of opium smoking. Five or six of these people assembled at a) Dover-street (Piccadilly) flat, kept by. Mr. and Mrs. Reggie de Veulle.on the evening of the Victory Ball, held: at the Albert Hall on 27th November. "Billie" Carleton was present at the ball. Before midnight she joined a supper party which had already gathered at Doverstreet. After supper the people arranged themselves for opium smoking. The men dressed in pyjamas and the women in chiffon nightdresses. Large cushions were strewn about the floor, and a woman named Mrs. Lo Ping You (a Scots girl married to a Chinese) acted as high priestess for the orgy. She prepared the opium, lit the pipes, moved from couch to couch,, and attended to the smokers' wants. She was equipped with opium needle, lamp, and all the usual accessories. The orgy went on from 9 in the evening till 3 the following afternoon. "Billie" Carleton was a latecomer. When she left Dover-street she went to her own flat, and a fewhours afterwards her maid found her dead in bed. Mrs. Lo Ping You has been prosecuted under the Defence of theRealm Act for administering opium, and the Magistrate sentenced her to five months' imprisonment with hard labour. When the police searched her husband's shop in Limehouse Causeway they discovered opium pipes, opium, and abundant other evidence that the place was an opium den. The man himself was a physical wreck through opium smoking. He was fined £10. These two prosecutions have directed attentidn to other cases. In one instance a place and apparatus for opium smoking were found behind an Oriental curiosity shop near Grosvenor-square. In another case a person was punished with a few weeks' imprisonment for selling cocaine in the streets. Several cases have been reported of nurses who have contracted the drug habit through overwork in hospitals. There has been a newspaper outcry on the subject, and a demand for severer penalties and increased restrictions of sale. The special kind of opium required for smoking is smuggled into the country from China by sailors or Chinese passengers. There are not a few dens in the East End where opium is surreptitiously used, and there are middle and upper class victims of this drug who know these places, and visit them by stealth.