Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-31
DOPE AS DOPE CURE
Chinese Smuggle Pills Made
Largely Of Opium.
PROHIBITIvE LAW IN FORCE
officials Of Three Departments Ar
rayed Against Traffic.
INVESTIGATION BY AGENTS
Suspicion Aroused by Efforts to I'M
port OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Among the Indians.

Cinnamon have been detected in i'm.
porting to this country pills composed
mainly Of opium for the euro of the
opium and morphine habits. Three
branches of the government are inter-
ested In the facts concerning the traf-
fic They are the Treasury, the In
Of Agriculture.
For cool, bland audacity, the depart
ment officials say, the Chinese IL I'M
bestable There has been q great deal
Of agitation without practical results
in the Chinese empire over Laws cur
failing or prohibiting opium growing.
There has been almosts a. much talk
and somewhat more results in this
country tending to hamper the trafI1c.
Now the Chinese are trying to extend
their trade In opium abroad a. they
do trade Of all other sorts.
Effect Of Prohibitive Laws.
Prohibitive laws in this country hamper
the opium traffic a good deal. and under
q clause In the pure food law the Sec
rotary Of the Treasury has authority to
prohibit the entrance from foreign coun-
try Of any food or drugs that are harmful
70 the QOPulAtlOu II is uuQor IQlS law
that action had been taken, and while
there have been no seizures of opium
made in this connection there has been a
large amount stopped and turned back
to the shipping point since the nature
OF the goods was discovered.
The old principle of like cures like"
has been used a great deal in the al
legged cures for the drug habits. 1t was
only recently discovered by the Depart
ment Of Agriculture, 1t Is said, a num-
Iay- ~ sy,nn ID he
ket. The most notable feature OF these
cures was the close way in which they
approached the dope" whose place they
were intended to take. But opium cures
from China were new proposition.
Pills Arouse Suspicion.
The suspicious Of some Of the customs
men were aroused by the attempt of
some Chinese importers to smuggle the
pills. If these pills had been legitimate
medicine, 1t was contended, there would
have been no likelihood of their being
smuggled. At the same time there came
an official warning from Secretary Bal
linger that somebody was trying to cor
rupt his Indians, and the Secretary OF
Agriculture set some of the pure food
sleuths hot-footing for the Indian coun-
try.
There they found lot of Indians busiIy
engaged in acquiring the opium habit
so they could use the pills to cure them
selves. Indians are always good sub
jects among whom to peddle anything
that is vicious and habit forming. They
were taking to the ''anti-opium'' pills
like a child to candy, and several of
them are already candidates for the psy-
copathic ward.
Made Mostly Of Opium.
Some of the pills were sent to Wash
ington and analysed and found to be
mostly made of, opium. Any dope fiend,
it was concluded, could get along with
them in the absence Of the real thing.
Attempts are being made to smuggle
the pills even now, but since the nature
of the cure has been determined the
traffic in them will have to be carried on
by the habitueS just as much under cover
as though they were dealing with undilut-