DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 July 1927, Page 4

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

NARCOTICS (Copyright, 1927. J week has come and gone, but there should be no let up in the war against the use of narcotics. The number of victims from narcotics is steadily rising and the effect of the use of drugs is appalling. There are more than five times as many drug addicts in the world as there were slaves at one time. Yet the use of drugs is the most abject slavery . More than that, it is dangerous to the community. The connection between drugs and crime is only too well established. Most of the criminals in our reformatory institutions are victims one way or another of the drug habit, and the use of stimulants of this kind render the most harmless citizen a dangerous citizen. Besides this the taking of narcotic drugs is a secret vice. It is most difficult to discover. People in all walks of life, the disreputable and the respectable alike can become victims. It would not be so bad if the victims hurt only themselves, but they drag down innocent people with them. A man who takes drugs is like a man with a dangerous revolver or knife who is also crazy. There is no telling whom he may attack. The problem is a very difficult one because it involves interfering with people's personal tastes, and what has been called their personal liberty. But civilisation is finding out that there is no such thing as personal liberty when the social fabric is menaced. People are finding out that the only way to protect themselves against potential dangers is to restrict men’s appetities when they are abnormal. The only successful way to control the narcotic traffic is at its source. The supply of opium and similar drugs should be limited. Those governments which derive a revenue from the use of dangerous drugs will have a long score to pay off. eceiving a tax for a thing that is intrinsically wrong just because people persist in using it is tantamount to compounding a felony. \ government who keeps its hands clean of this sort of business should make a relentless war upon the vendors of dangerous drugs.