Coming Of "Dope" Curse

NZ Truth, Issue 973, 19 July 1924, Page 1

Coming Of "Dope" Curse

An Incurable Malady , *. * * > . * But Can Anything Be Done In The Way Of Prevention ? Will the premier vices— sex Ysin, alcoholism, 'gambling — be presently reinforced by druggery, unless preventive measures are,: applied? \And what can be done m the way of prevention? As tocure — there does hot seem to be any. (By "Mustapha Drink.") „. V ;." :| * - '.' ; "". - *'. _: ■ . * '. .' "' : •'■

Some time ago revelations m connection* with the drug traffic 'in Metro- - politan Lbndon caused the cleaner portion of the population to gasp. ' The dccuihula,ted effect of prosecuting a number ;of Chinese and their white slave victims was to drive the rotten business .further underground, where it collects a greater toll than ever. Latest cablegrams indicate that Canada is being made a stamping ground by , the "dope" trade, and the ! story of North-west Mounted Police $ and Spanish Grandees reads like aro- • mahce of Sax Rohmer or William Le i Queux. In. the detection of crime, the • heads' of the Canadian N.W.M. Police are among the most astute- in the world, '. and no single institution, eyen iricludr ing the redoubtable Scotland Yard iti self, can boast a finer record of bringi ing criminals to justice. >• t Drug traffickers - are notoriously s elusive people and ; their large , and t exclusive clientele provides , them, with ■ "stool pigeons" of an IntellectuM cali- > bre peculiar to the trade. The loyalty . of these victims is an outstanding fea- , ture,. and is one of the traffickers' greatly est , assets m" avoiding arrest. Those i agairist whom convictions have : , beeri , obtained, are. only tlie parasites which j every fortune-making ? scheme attracts. I The real brains of the "dope" traffic „ are shielded' behind impe'rietrable . baY- ► riers' which' even the most' able "deihon" l . of the CiLD. seems utterly incapable of penetrating. ... .-* . ; ' , • '_■■,-,... r The.viactual quantity of drugs consumed yearly throughout rthe civilised ' world must be enormous; The , quantity ' admittedly used is, according to official figures, almost staggering and these so-cailed ; o&clal figures set out ; brily 'a' f mctiori of the reality. If ; &&tfchienta.m&di^ ;■' #r6feec"utions dlrefidcU^ter'tneri -T 6rie '*' Europeiiri country riiust be handling ' hundreds Of tbns.bf" drugs annually, of which only a very small fraction can i be regarded as legal.' Contrary to the common belief, the I East- is riot the Centre from which the great trade is done. -Some of the

South American States, as well as the hubs' of American civilisation m the northern continent, supply the locale bf the largest clearing houses.' The Mediterranean seaboard is veritably a nest of drug trafficking, Avhile -east of Suez any of a dozen or more drugs, from Oplum^to Hashish, arid even the latest craze dormiene, can be*, obtained for a few piastres. -V ■'■ i .'•' Cocaine parties are open features of some of the superior hotels of the Continental metropoli, and waiters, taxi drivers and opera ''supers" makia a lucrative commission on . their ; sale's. Often drug trafficking is conducted! a!s a side line to prostitution and proves highly, profitable. The number ;ot young Englishwomen engaged m this rotten business must be enormous. For a time it looked as if London were the hub from which "dope"' tentacles stretched but oyer, the world, but ilater information discloses the fact ithat . the great Smoky City is only one of the smaller centres.. > ,'■•-! - It was recently stated by - one ber lieved to be m the know that -. the spread of* the. drug traffic was v part and parcel of the German scheme to dominate the world. Whether this is true or not wpuld be difficult to v say. But the fact i-emairis that, one 'very conspicuous, source of "dope" supßly is to be found on the German shores of the North Sea right m the track of great shipping. -'■■„* ,: . '\ Like the, ostrich .which wards off impending danger by burying Its optics beneath the desert sands, we haveretused to see the arrival of the drU£ traffic m . tliis '.''.country. •;■•'• Only- ';a/- few weeks ago— as recorded In "Truth"— a tnig-sbddeq/vy retch staggered '.Into the alvation Axn\y Home* m Christchurch m circumstances indicating, that he had been ' at the- game f bi^Sbirie" tinfevThis ia >;-i}ot **ah-->kisolatea years' time ,f do]pS"; will >be a bigger question m this country than* the-; "npr license" issue, and * some wisekcres with axes to grind will put it down to direct trade with the East. The;;; fact is /that large quantities of drugs smuggled .into other countries ': per medium .of ships that have never been through the Red Sea, and these boats are quite abie to cater for .all -the "wants" of this country. The drug traffic is flourishing ::all around us. In Sydney the authorities are up against it hard ahd have been for/sortie time. "Fiji handles quantities of opium on account of the Hindus, while Samoa Is not entirely above suspicion. Father off there is the "dope" coast of California running a regular steamer connection .with 1 New Zealand, and possessing all the opportunities In the world for the inauguration of tihe traffic m, this country on a big sca-le. . If prevention is better than curetit would be an excellent idea to Bheive the Prohibition question for a while and persuade. Social Reformers here to concentrate* their efforts towards rooting up the first seeds of this rotten traffic, which have already been so***vn. If the traffic once gets a hold and it comes to' a fight between tho reformers and the brains of tho "dope" business it is an easy guess as. to the result^ To be forewarned is to bo forearmed. * ' \ \ ' \- ■ ■ * * .*. .