The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-12-17

according to the books seized when
his store was raided. All of this was
handed out to individual smokers in
shells and toys ranging in price from
so cents to 81 apiece. A shell is
the real shell of the Chinese lyche
nut and is less than an inch in di-
ameter. A toy is small recep-
tacle of bone, glass or porcelain fill
ed with the thick gummy paste. For
those who cannot spend as much as
so cents at time the dealer furnish
es tiny bits of opium on halves OF
playing cards.
Cooking "a Pill"
The opium smoker in the act of
smoking is said to be cooking a
pill" Reclining on a bed the smok-
Ell places the layout within easy reach
and lights the lamp. The yen-hok, or
dipper, a long needle-shaped instru-
ment, is put into the opium recepta-
Gle and turned slowly in the black
and sticky substance until small
quantity of opium adheres to the /
point. 1t is then placed over the
flame of the lamp, and, turning the
Upper, the smoker rolls and cooks /
the pill" until it is ready for the |
pipe.
The tiny speck is then thrust into /
the little opening of the bowl, which,
held above the lamp, slowly begins to
produce opium fumes, which are
dawn in by the smoker through the
stem of his pipe. The pill" lasts
only from 80 to 40 seconds, and to
enjoy another smoke the same prepa-
rations have to be repeated.
The Weakness of the Law.
The importation of smoking opium
was prohibited by the act OF Febru-
airy 8, 1909. The law permitted, how
ever, the Importation of crude opium
for medicinal purposes without max
ing penal provisions to prevent the
diversion of such opium to smoking
purposes after it once passed the
customs lines. The absence of SUI
Dervisory law has made this proyis-
ion an excellent loophole for the OPT
UNI importer 1t is asserted that
rs, 600 pounds are sufficient for the
country's annual medicinal needs,
yet last year the known importation
Of crude opium exceeded 100000
pounds Again, when it became GER
tain that smoking-opium, or opium
destined to be worked up for smok-
ing. would be excluded trade became
brisk and hundreds of thousands OF
pounds were brought in before the
exclusion act went into force. The
thousands of tin cans holding it have
been preserved with great care and
refilled with struggled opium so that,
even if seized by the customs, the
courts had no power to contiscate and
destroy the contents,
The Failure of the Government.
The opium smuggIer has invented /
more tricks than any other to foil
the customs Inspector, and the keen
est and most ingenious brains seem
to be devoted to the circumyenting
Of the government and the supplying /
of New York with tremendous guam
titles of this most dangerous drug. /
General Nelson H. Henry, surveyor /
of the port of New York, frankly ad-
mits thar "all efforts of the federal |
to control the use OF OPT
UNI have failed completely"
Men of all classes have been ap- |
palled at recent revelations of the |
extent of the dangerous traffic and
have Joined in a demand for the en-
forcement of existing laws, while |
much needed new legislation is un- /
der way. Public opinion has at last
been aroused to the dangers of what |
President Taft calls the 'deplorable |
narcotic evil" which paralyzes mind |
and body and destroys the moral
sense.