The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-02
AMERICA Is IN HE | GRIP OF DRUG HABIT Lack of Uniformity of State Laws Against Drugs PROGRESS IN CHINA Claimed That Amount of Opium Used in United States Is Four Times
 More Than Absolutely
 Necessary
PROGRESS IN CHINA
From the Chicago Herald.

old position of China, which was un- q bie to control It's internal production and consumption of opium until outside nations gave assistance. With interna-
 tional aid, China has done more to stamp out the opium vice in the last
 five years than 1t was able to accom-
 plish in two centuries without the help
 of other nations, and the experts on the international opium commission main
 tain that the various commonwealths in
 the United States occupy an analogous position to that of China before the outside nations came together on the question of redeeming the Orient from
 the opium pipe.
 Many of the states have stringent laws against the abuse of drugs; most
 of the larger cities have ordinances and regulations that have worked well in reducing the drug habit, the pure food act itself has accomplished wonders in
 cutting down the abuse of opiates. but
 until these agencies are reinforced by federal laws providing absolute con trol and regulation of the interstate drug traffic. the local laws will be in-
 sufficient. At present it Is too easy for an Illicit purveyor of opium, morphia and cocaine to get supplies from an outside state and take 1t into state that has stringent statutes against the evil. The secret service is continually
 on the outlook but without federal laws that will provide thorough check on all medicinal opium from the time 1t reaches port to the time it Is sold and
 used as a prepared product, the experts
 who have been studying the question
 for years, maintain that the drug habit
 will never be adequately fought
 It is estimated that from TO. to SO
 per cent of the ,000 pounds of me- dicinal opium being imported at pres
 ent into the United States each year is manufactured Into morphia, 75 per cent of which Is used by drug habitues Of 100000 retail druggists in the country about 10 per cent, 1t Is estimated by the experts, exist by the illlcit sale of morphine and cocaine. The increase in the use of opium has far outrun the in- crease in population.
 Figures prepared by Dr. Hamilton
 Wright show that in the 50 years ending in 1909 the importations of opium in all its forms increased 351 per cent as against an increase of 133 per cent in population
 The act of 1909 forbidding the importa- ton of smoking opium has taken away about 100000 pounds year of the drug in this form but the use of medicinal opium
 and it's derivatives and preparations is
 still four times the amount required for
 legitimate medical purposes. These facts
 and many more of a statistical and graphic nature have been placed before committees of Congress during recent
 hearings, in which the administrations
 has urged federal laws for the control of
 the traffic. Importers and manufacturers
 of the habt-forming drugs are also urging
 the passage of the proposed legislation to
 tax the manufacture of smoking opium
 out of existence and to provide such an
 elaborate system of regulation that illicit
 dealings in the drugs will be eliminated.
 Although most of the states have laws
 on the subject there Is no uniformity.
 Many of the state pharmacy laws contain
 great defect In that they permit the
 purchase of habit forming drugs without
 the prescription of physician, the dealer
 merely being required to keep a record of
 sale and the name of the person to whom
 the drug is sold. Many state laws are
 also defective in that they do not make
 the illegal possession of habit forming
 drugs evidence for conviction. Illicit pur-
 veyors of the drugs may be caught with
 the goods and yet go free.
 Even when such laws require that there
 
 scription the law is easily evaded for
 many pharmacists are registered physi-
 clans and prescribe their stocks freely,
 while most communities of size have un-
 scrupulous physicians who do not hesitate
 to abuse their licenses by prescribing
 habit forming drugs for illicit use. The
 investigators have often found cases
 where a disreputable druggist and an un-
 scrupulous physician make combination whereby the law is evaded and large quantities of dope" are sold to habi- tues. For years agitation has been ear- ried on in many of the states for the pass age of laws that would make possession of habit Corning drug for any purpose other than medicinal evidence for con- viction. Several states have such laws and are meeting with success in destroy ing the traffic. but without a rigid fed eral supervision of the interstate trade a great deal of their effort is almost wasted. 1t is still q common practice for Illicit dealers, disreputabe physicians and un- scrupulous pharmaclsts in one state to send to distant states for supplies Reput-
 able wholesalers and jobbers have no pro- tection. The Illicit purveyors generally use false letterheads. Sometimes the reputable wholesalers are deceived. Often ulun making inquiry they find that the address given on the order for drugs is that of saloon or millinery or dress making establishment, and that from these centers the drugs are sold to regu- lar patrons at tremendous profits.
 The important part played by the United States in the international movement to destroy the opium evil In the Orient grew out of the occupation of the Philippines For many years before taking over the lands the government had discounte- . nanced the traffic fin the far east through treaties made with countries of the Orient. By the American Chinese treaty of 1ssD Chinese subjects living in the United States were prohibited from importing smoking opium into the country. while T. statute prevented American citizens from selling opium to the unprotected natives of certain of the Pacific islands. The United States, however. for half q cen tury had legalized the importation of opium for smoking. This not only led to the debauchery of Chinese coolies but led also to the extension of the opium habit to the white population. When the United States took over the Philip pines it found that large numbers of the Chinese on the islands were confirmed opium smokers and that the vice was spreading to the native Philippine popn- lation.
 Tn 1903 the Philippine commission framed bill for the control of the opium traffic and the regulation of the use of the drug, and after an exhaustive study of the situation in the orient recommendations were made that the use of opium be pro- hibited except for medical purposes Con 1 gress in 1905 passed an act prohibiting the 1 importation of crilm n any form except 1 for medicinal purposes Into the islands, ond tbis act in continuation with the re-