ARMY OF THE LOST

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2307, 27 November 1925, Page 10

ARMY OF THE LOST

SLAVES TO DRUGS LOOPHOLES IN THE LAW. The illicit use of drugs,, is as old as drugs themselves, and they are very old. Behind the prosy reports of toxicologists and officials who are dealing with this question lies a history as fasenating as mythology, wrtea Mr. E .T. Neathercoat, a former president of the British Pharmaceutical Society, In the "Dally Mail.” Indeed, drugs frequently figure in mythology, the ancients cloaking their ignorance of the exact properties of certain herbs by attributing to them magical qualities by whose aid mythical heroes and heroines were able to perfom prodigious feats in battle, in the removal of rivals, in restoring the dead, and in the service of Venus.

From a tangle of romance, occultism, nonsense and genuine testimony the fact clearly emerges that for some 30tt0 years man has been aware of the properties of a considerable variety of drugs, ranging from opium and hemlock to henbane, pennyroyal and cocaine. ✓

“Wry do people take drugs?” ope is often asked. It must be admitted that many recruits to the army of drug slaves are enlisted as the result of the prescription of drugs for medical purposes. During a long illness or After an operation, patients discover the stimulating effect of drugs and develop a craving. Causes of the Drug Habit. The war did much to increase the illicit use of drugs. Painful wounds and long illnesses were responsible tor an alarming increase in the demand for drugs. Apart from the causes of drug addiction there has always been a certain class whose time is largely devoted to idle pleasure-seeking, ever on the alert for new sensations and excitements. Among these, cocaine, morphine, and heroin are, on occasion employed for a variety of unworthy ends. To produce a transient and intelluctual brilliance, to stimulate sexual appetites, and to encourage self-confidence, those unhappy beings whom we speak of as belonging to the “underworld” are tempted to have recourse to drugs. Once beginning, the victim is soon afflicted with a craving which needs ever-increasing doses until death follows an overdose. A curious psychological trait of the drug addict Is that he or she derives Intense satisfaction from introducing others to vicious practices. So every drug addict becomes a recruiter for the army of the lost. The laws regulating the supply of dangerous drugs are drastic in their application to doctor and chemist. As a consequence the chances that drug addicts can secure their desired "dope” from either source are very small. Clever Smugglers The drug addict usually draws hia supply from sources connected with such unscrupulous villains as Brilliant Chang and Miyagawa, who, posing as respectable merchants, smuggle large quantities of morphine and cocaine into the country and then arrange for their distribution in small quantities to street loungers. Chang is gone, and Miyagawa is serving penal servitude with deportation awaiting him at the end of it; but they have their successors. The ingenuity of the drug smuggler is well illustrated by the recent discovery of 2000 oz. of heroin concealed in the hollow posts of a cargo of bedsteads in a ship at Hong Kong. Many drug addicts are able to continue their vicious practices because they know that “when one door closes another opens.” Their favourite drug may have been effectively stopped by the action of the law, but it la not long before another derivative makes its appearance in the form of some secret remedy which the law at present has no authority to prohibit, or as some entirely new drug not named within the Act.

Opium, for example, may be difficult to obtain, but a drug which may satisfy tho needs of the Chinese has made its appearance xmder the name of hashish, or Persian opium. There appears to be no end .to the number of derivatives and narcotic combinations which the wit of man can devise. Some of these have little or no llgitimate use in medicine, and there appears to be no reason why their manufacture should not be prohibited, were the Home Office’s powers adequate. Strain of Modem Life. The processes .whereby new narcotics and habit-forming drugs of addiction are added to the schedule of the Dangerous Drugs Act are not always conductive to smooth working. It is, of course, abundantly clear that ,in the public interest, there must be a very srict control. Unfortunately if the control is too stringent, the immediate supply of the drugs to a patient may be hampered. This may easily be vital to the sufferer, “I am absolutely persuaded that the best hope of protecting the weak is to be found in the good will and cooperation of the medical and pharmaceutical professions, backed by stringent powers in the Home Office. “We cannot dismiss the question by reasoning that man has always misused drugs and always will do so. The physical and nervous condition of the race to-day is much more favourable to the extension of the drug traffic | than ever it was, and it is, therefore; inereasirurlv necessary to overhaul our. poison legislation to stop Illegal traf-1 licking.”