THE DRUG HABIT

Grey River Argus, 16 April 1925, Page 5

THE DRUG HABIT

GROWING IN AUCKLAND. YOl'Nii WOMEN ADDKTED. <'l’.” Press Association). Al( 'ELAND. April 15. A prominent Auckland social worker whose duties lake him into some strange corners of the city, stated th.it the drug habit had assumed distinctly l.'irgor proportions during the past two or three years, as a result which he uttributed in the cas c <•!' men to the after effects of ihe war, ami in the case of women to ‘‘just a silly tail . “While there is ne’liing to l>e alar.:i d al." he added. “1 he irndemv should be put dtiwn with a heavy hand. " He indicated that he had one or two cases already under his observation, and that several bad cases had passed through his hands in the past few years. Rep ort Endorsed. The report that, the drug habit was growing in Auckland was emphatically endorsed by a well-known Auckland chemist. ‘‘There is no doubt about it nt all." he stated. “I receive dozens of inquiries for drugs o\rr the counter nnd have to refuse them time after time. " Chemists, he added, would nut sell drugs unless they were prescribed by a medical practitioner, or unless the customer and his credentials were pcrsonaliv known. The trouble was that in most cases the addict resorted to cverv rus ( . and stratagem lo attain the object of his desires, and would almost invariably produce a fictitious prescription. When the signature of a medical man was not deliberately forged, it was signed by a doctor, devoid of conscience . ’ ’ Young Women Addicts. The prevalence of the drug hab.t among young women finds condemnation in the several quarters, and blamo i is laid in some instances on the excessive use of headache cures. “J tinu,” was one comment met with, “that girls will eat these tablets by the dozen and chew four or five of them if they have headaches or arc a little *off colour. ' 11 is a very bad habit. " This \ iew met with concurrence from a leading Auckland chemist. “There is no question ibout it,’’ he agreed. “Hundreds of society girls carry Ihe.se cures round in their vanity bags, while shop girls take them continually. I would nut say it was dangerous, “but it is certainly not beneficial, and it may be only the preliminary to the development of a cenGrmcd drug habit.”