The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-28
HOP : HEAD" CROWD

VT HEN JUDGE BRADY decided
w that there was no Kansas City
ordinance that provides a penalty
for smoking opium. the hearts Of the
local "hop-head" contingent beat mer-
rily for Joy No more would the ter
face for INDUCING in their weakness
for the real 'hop-head" fears a term
in Jail where he Is forced to abstain
from using opium cat least ostensibly)
more than he does the pangs of star
walton or any of the other ills OF which
the human frame is subject Poverty
is merely a disagreeable circumstance
10 the habitual opium user-sickness,
just another reason for seeking the
Inconsistencies Of the drug. and crime,
something that may provide material
by which the drug may be obtained.
Everything is out of focus with the
opium smoker. Everything is or is not
of importance to him IN the exact ratio
it bears upon the use and supply of the
drug.
The police estimate that there are at
least 1000 opium smokers in Kansas
City aside from the Chinese delegation,
which is practically solid as far as the
habit is concerned. The police, how
ever. will not admit that there is
single Joint" in operation where it is
possible for the average citizen to en-
ter and indulge if he feels that way in
cliued. They say that the law prohibits
the running OF the FjointS." but that
it has long been known to the Depart
ment that individuals may smoke I'M
disturbed in their own apartments as
long as they do not sell the use Of their
'layOuts" to others. Nearly every
ChinRman in the city owns a Layout"
and large portion Of the criminal
population is equally we'll provided.
The female users of the drug by
smoking are not very numerous and
are almost exclusively from the lowest
and most degraded class. One of the
greatest preventives Of the operations
of criminals, according to the infOrma-
ton given out by the police, is this
same opium. The thief and the violent
criminal are to a greater or less extent
degenerates. There is a weak spot in
their makeup somewhere They may
plan and execute the most complicated
crimes and yet the police can go to
work on the case with fullest cOnvic-
ton that some trifling little detail viii
be overlooked by the criminal which
will lead to his detection. or else that
ne will sooner or later have recourse
to some drug or tell his record to some
woman.
These are the three things that the
police rely upon in tracing out a really
great crime. The man who is capable
or robbing a bank or lOOting a train
and who IS skiIlfuI enough to accom-
plish the crime without detection while
he is doing the actual work, rarely gets
clear, even when he is aided with gifts
of wei la ~,
nearly 90 per cent OF criminals of the
first class the use OF some drug goes
hand in hand with the tendency to
criminalitv
The perpetrators Of crime seldom OBJ
tain anywhere near the real value of
the plumber resulting from their oper-
ations. They are usually in a chronic
state Of financial decrepitude. tt is
while I'm this condition that the great
criminal commits some Gffense that
places him at the mercy Of the police.
Then the habit OF the criminal is used
by the department to develop the rec
ord of the prisoner.
Thus the general use OF dope" is
one Of the means used by the police in
the detection and preston Of crime.
There are three great classes of drug
users. or. rather. three divisions that
are marked one from the other in the
manner Of the use. First comes the
opium smoking division; second. the
users of the hypoaernic syringe. and.
third. the largest class Of all. that takes
drugs Of all sorts internally or by snuff
fng.
Opium is a gummy material obtained
by extracting the substance OF the seed
pod Of the poppy tt Is one of the Inn
portant products Of eastern China. and
IN fact Of many Of the southeast Asian
countries. III has about the consistency
! OF cold molasses and is not unlike Il in