Marihuana ‘Worst Drug,’ Says C.I.B. Officer

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23211, 24 March 1950, Page 5

Marihuana ‘Worst Drug,’ Says C. 1.8. Officer

SYDNEY, Jan. 27. Marihuana was the worst drug that could be “let loose” on the community. Yet it was easy to smuggle into the country, Det-Sgt. E. J. Baker, oflicer-in-charge of the C. 1.8. Drug squad, told the Central Court today. He was giving evidence against Eric Raymond Cook, aged 32, of East Sydney kitchenman, who was convicted of having unlawfully had possession of a quantity of marihuana (or Indian hemp). Mr. Harris, S.M., sentenced Cook to 12 months’ gaol with hard labour. Senior-Detective L. R. Gaskill said that about a quarter of an ounce of marihuana was found in Cook’s room in a residential on January 17. Cook had been to two restaurants at King’s Cross offering to sell the drug to employees. Sergeant Baker, a registered pharmacist, said marihuana had been incorrectly described as a sex drug. “It is a drug of exhilaration which re* moves all inhibitions,” he said. “A person smoking marihuana gives full reign to any desires he may have at that time. “If the smoker is morose it will depress him more, and if he has homicidal tendencies it will cause him to commit murder.” Even' children would commit crimes of violence under the,influence of marihuana, Sergeant Baker said.