THE TRAFFIC IN “DOPE"

Evening Star, Issue 18259, 26 April 1923, Page 9

THE TRAFFIC IN “DOPE"

AN INTERNATIONAL MENAGE. HOW NARCOTICS ARE SMUGGLED, RESULTS OP THE VICE. Appalling stories of the traffic it “ dope” m;iy seem like ft pipe cl cum U the average man, who raroly recognises an addict when ho sees one; but it :s unfortunately true, numerous authorities inform us, that the trail of the illicit peddler winds its way around practically the whole world, to tho distress of nations and the degradation and destruction of countless individuals. Worse, from our own viewpoint, says an American paper, is the fact that America unhappily_ bears the stigma of leading the world in the consumption of opium, and that the number of addicts in tnat country is conservatively estimated to bo 1,000,000. Though China is conventionally regarded as the worst offender in this respect, medical authorities inform us, and other experts bea? witness, that seventeen times a.s much “ dopo" is consumed per capita in the United States as in the land whero_ tho poppy is indigenous to the soil. Writing in the ‘.Journal of the American Medical Association,’ Dr Alexander Lambert states that from twelve _ to seventy-two times as much opium is consumed la America as in other white nations, mid that “ the amount consumed in the United States per annum is sufficient to furnish thirty-six doses for every man, woman, and child.” Public opinion as represented by those who are aware of this national peril in the illicit traffic in drugs is aroused to high pitch, and movements are on foot to limit the quantity actually needed for medical purposes by controlling the supply at its source. The Now York State Association of Magistrates, according to Press reports, was recently urged by its Drug Committee to recommend the appointment of a new joint legislative committee to investigate the drug problem in that State, where tho number of addicts is placed at 50,000, and where tbs drug evil is regarded us “ tho State’s most serious social problem.” Judge Cornelius J. Collins of General Sessions, chairman of the Drug Evil Committee, declared before the association that in his court, which is the “pulse” of underworld life, the number arrested in 1922 for illegal possession of, or traffic in, drugs was 2,211, an increase of 35.8 per cent, over 1921.

Bat the problem is r#t limited to any one State or to any one community. The “dope fiend" is found! everywhere—on the fashionable avenue, on “ Main street," and in tile alley. Resolutions urged in Congress and elsewhere have borne witness to a growing appreciation of the fact that it is only by international organisation that the traffic can be suppressed. The League of Nations lias not been idle in the matrix Some time ago a committee was set up by it to devise means for the control and proper distribution of tho world’s supply of opium, and on that committee America is represented.

Medical authorities assure us that three and one-half tons of opium a year would fill the needs of tho entire world for all tho medicinal preparations _ known as opium derivatives. It is estimated that I,£oo tons are produced every year. It is almost impossible to visualise this quantity, says a writer in the St. Louis ‘ Post-Dis-patch.’ “A grain of any of the white powders known as opium, constitutes a doso of ‘ dope.’ A grain?—and 1,500 tons! Ono ton would bo more than sufficient to drug tho entire population of tho United States.” Where does this surplus amount go? ‘‘lt goes to the perpetuac tinu of tho drug evil—to supply the opium smoker and chowcr in the Far Last—to provide tho drug addict, andi to produce now addicts, in tho United States and elsewhere. but chiefly in the United States/’ In the Harrison anti-narcotic law this_ country, wc are told, has the bast anti-drug law in tho world, yet “ the number of addicts in tho nation is conservatively estimated at 1,000,010. And this number is steadily growing, for it is an established fact that each addict recruits several new victims.” The overwhelming majority, wo are told, are supplied through smugglers, whose yearly profits run into millions of dollars. The material damage the business causes to the nation, says the ‘Post-Dis-patch’ writer, “ mns equally into millions. Tho moral damage wrought by it cannot be expressed in dollars and cents.’ Of the smuggling business the writer quotes from an interview with Mrs Helen Howell Moorhead, secretary of the sub-committee on narcotics of the Foreign Policy Association : Not opium, but the derivatives—the little white powders, morphin and heroin —are being smuggled into the country from Germany, Switzerland, and Japan via Canada, the Gulf porta, New York, Seattle, and tho Mexican Border. Sometimes the powders are concealed in tho folds of linen collars, in hat bands, linings, shoo heels, cto. But only email quantities are brought in this way. The wholesale smugglers have more ingenious methods. To mention just one instance : Not long ago a shipload of dried fish arrived at tho port of New York from Barcelona, Spain. There was nothing suspicious about the cargo, and tho ship was being unloaded when one of tho stevedores fell on the slippery pavement of tho quay and, dropped a case of fish. Tin* caso curst open, and revealed to tho eves of an astonished re- , venue agent, who happened to be standing by, packages embedded among tno layers of dried/ fish. One of tho packages was examined, and found to contain heroin powder. Tho ship earned enough dope to drug tho inhabitants of a whole city. . Once the powders are safely in, the function of tho retail distributor, the ‘‘peddler,” begins. Thera are peddlers for all classes of addicts, and there is no fixed price for tho drug. Rather, the peddler levies a tax on tho earning capacity of his customer. If an addict earns 25d0l a. week the peddler will supply him with “snow” for 2Qdol a week, allowing him only enough to keep a roof ever his head', and thus out of the policeman’s way. Drug addicts require very little food, and the peddler sees to it that they get less. If the addict has a wife and' children to support, that is none of tho peddler’s business ; he takes tho addict’s income just the same. And so upward on tho social ladder. The htehest-typo peddler is the disreputable doctor, who establish** himself in sumptuous offices and supplies “legitimate” prescriptions for drugs to wealthy addicts.

A. writer in 'TTcarst's International Magazine’ describes the terrible effects of narcotics on their victims. Tho man who turns to them, he says, “is beaten before be starts. But tho menace of ‘dope’ Li far more important than the physical misery of Its Victims. It constitutes a definite social clanger in terms of crime. The drug addict" is ft dangerous citizen'. The cocaine sniffer is a wild man under bis drug’s Influence. The opiate user is a wild man without his drug. Drug addio tion is responsible for some of the most atrocious crimes on record. Its criminal aspect is the tiring which brought nar* colic laws about. ... 1 Dope ’ ifi a known menace of unknown proportions.”