CIGARETTE DRUG PERIL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 182, 6 August 1935, Page 8

CIGARETTE DRUG PERIL

HASHISH AT BOTTLE PARTIES, LONDON, June 13. A growing West End traffic in drugged cigarettes was revealed yesterday when at Marlborough-street, a seaman was sentenced to four months’ hard labour for possessing hashish, or Indian hemp. As much as 5s is charged for a single cigarette, which may contain either hashish or marijuana, another form of hemp. Both have similar effects on the smoker, quickly inducing wild excitement and hysterical gaiety or fits of violence and delirium, according to the quantity taken. Constant use can lead to madness or death. The drug-pedlars frequent the less reputable night clubs, cafes, and bottle parties of the West End, where a profitable trade is being done in “ sweetened cigarettes. ” Even a stranger visiting one of these clubs may be approached by a vendor offering to sell those cigarettes singly or “so much for a puff.” Recent police drives, however, have made the trafficking more furtive. 'l’he seaman sentenced yesterday was. Max Fisher, aged 38. Detective-Sergeant Keen said that he found at Fisher’s address three packets containing hashish and two hand-made cigarettes which contained the drug. “There was a partly smoked cigarette which Fisher had apparently just put out. “From my information,” he added, “this class of cigarette is being sold to white girls of a certain character in West End chibs, and this man has been visiting these, clubs.”