DANGEROUS DRUG

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23034, 11 May 1938, Page 22

DANGEROUS DRUG

SUPPRESSIVE ACTION CANADIAN PARLIAMENT [t'ltOM OUR OWN COHRKSI'ONDENT] OTTAWA. April 7 The Canadian Parliament has taken stern action to suppress what is called "the reefer man" —a slang phrase for consumers of or dealers in cigarettes that contain the mind-destroying drug called marijuana. Parliament has passed a law prohibiting, except under licence, cultivation, gathering or production of Indian hemp, a wild plant, of which the narcotic is a dirivative. After its expected passage the law will be effective on proclamation. While United States authorities express alarm over the rapid spread of marijuana addiction among young people. Canadian officials say they have had littlo trouble with tlio drug; | have, in fact, caught only 28 persons peddling it since its use in this coun» try was first discovered in 1932. The source of the narcotic cigarettes, "reefers" to smokers and the underground trade, was the United States. Most of those found in Canada were smuggled across the border in the vicinity of Windsor, Ontario. Severe penalties—seven years and lashes are the maximum—discourage efforts of smugglers and peddlers.