Middletown transcript., 1908-08-01
NO MORE COCAINE BY MAIL

Alarmed by the extent to which th'
cocaine habit has spread in the large
cities of the county, the Postoffice De
partment has issued an order denying the
use of the mails to cocaine or its deriva'
tives. To do this it was found necessary
to extend the provisions of Section 4 o.
the Postal Regulations.
Government reports show that an enor
nous amount of cocaine is sent through
the mails each year and that this class oi
matter is steadily growing greater. The
crusades waged against the habit in the
cities have driven the drug fiends" to
seek other means of procuring the pow
der, and the mails have been the innocent
channel through which the work of the
crusaders have been rendered partially in
effective. Much Of the cocaine that has
passed through the mails has been in the
form of so-called medicines. These
medicines will also fall under the ban.
The action of the Postofice Depart
ment was taken by authority of Congress
granted at the last session, when it in
cluded a prohibition against the drug in
making up the Departments appropria-
tion bill. 1t was said by the Postofice
authorities that the order had its genesis
in the attempt of certain Southern legisla-
tors to have general order passed pro-
hibiting the sending of intoxicating
liquors into prohibition States either
through the mails or by common carriers
engage in interstate trade.
1t is developed that in the South the
habit had fixed itself to an alarming de-
gree on the negroes. The curse Of CO.
caine, in fact, is said to be as great, If not
a greater nuisance to the peace of that
section of the country than the liquor
habit.
The difficulty faced by those who have
tried to combat the evil in the cities has
been the ease with which the drug has
hitherto been obtained. While druggists
selling the powder without a physicians
prescription have been arrested time and
again and frequently convicted, there has
been much more cocaine obtained by
those addicted to its use than ever was
purchased over the counters of drug
stores.
Much of this additional supply came di-
rectly from the manufacturers to the pur-
chasers through the mails. Being a dry
powder and susceptible to packing, so
that its real nature was readily concealed,
it lent itself to mailing.
The great increase in patent medicine
that contain cocaine in large quantities
has been a source OF uueasiness to the
government. There are great number
of such remedies, and the Bureau of
Chemistry of the Agricultural Depart
ment is after them under the pure food
law.
The charge has been made that cocaine
has even found its way into the proprie-
tary drinks sold to the public at soda
fountains. DR.. W. H. Wiley, Chief of
the Bureau of Chemistry, only a short
time ago publicly denounced one such
drink. He declared it contained cocaine,
and because of his statements its sale was
prohibited.
Among the negroes of the cities the use
of cocaine has assumed very large proper
tions. Government agents who have in
vestigated the matter in conjunction with
the State authorities have discovered that
regularly established trade is used in
furnishing the drug to its users.
These peddlers are to the drug business
what the "bootleggers'' are to the liquor
traffic. They carry their stocks in trade
with them and sell it in unique measure,
Instead of giving their customers SO many
grains for a certain sum, they sell the
powder by the ''card A customer may
purchase anywhere from "deuce'' to a
''ten" card of "coke," as the drug is
known in the vanaeular by those who use
it, The peddler spreads the powder
thinly over the spots on playing card
and is based on the number of spots be
has to cover to complete the sale.
The United States is a party to a treaty
to stamp out the opium traffic, and for
years agitators have insisted that the CO.
caine traffic should also be attacked.
Whether the government will take any
further steps toward the transportation OF
the drug has not yet been considered.