Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-12
WHAT The GOVERNMENT Is DOING

| 'Of all the various types Of sanitary
laws enacted in the interest Of public
| health. few. If any. are as
Drugs That deserving Of more imme-
| date and careful consid-
A"ASoA' Grafton as are the laws
which are designed tos.pravent acute or
chronic poisonings. accidental or other
| wise" This opinion is expressed by zDrs
Martin l., Wilbert and Murray Gait Mot
| ter Of the United States. public health
service, who have just completed ana
| brought up to date a compilation Of laws
and regulations relating to the use. sale
and manufacture of poisonous and habit
forming drugs
According to the two government physi-
| clans. the number of deaths caused in
| the United States in acute and chronic
cases OF poisoning appears to be increas-
| ing, despite all efforts which are being
made In every section of the country to
| discourage the sale or use Of substances
which may be used as poisons. In joint
| statement. made by Drs. Wilbert and
Mott they say:
The increase in the number of deaths
| from poisoning is perhaps due largely to
the fact that, quite regardless of the
amount of legislation existing in this
country to protect the health Of the peo-
pie against poisons. little or no attempt
| Is being made properly to enforce the
same. The average citizen, and even the
omclai Entrusted with the execution Of
i the laws, appears to be loath to take an
| active part In the enforcement of the re-
strictiFe regulations, and it is probab bly,
due to this fact that so many Impractical
laws have found their way into and re-
man on the statute books of several
| States.''
That publicity should not be given to
the specific name of a poison or to de-
tailed description of its action in case of
poisoning is the belief of both of the
| governments health experts In NUM-
| per OF states representative newspapers
| have Joined in the effort made to check
suicides by refusing to mention in re-
ports the specific names of the substances
used either iii accidental or deliberate
poiSonngs. seE.ke-
The veritabie epidemic Of .poisonings
| by mercuric chloride" say Drs. Motter
and Nilbert, was developed some months
ago by the unfortunately widespread pub
hcity given to- an alleged case of acct
dental poisoning in Georgia. Most people
VIII remember that the patient lived for
some days after taking the poison, and
the lengthy reports Of interviews and re-
! puted interviews had Considerable infiu-
| ence IN the way. OF suggesting to the
| morb1dly. inclined the possibility of easy
death from the use~of readily obtained
L
| another phase of the possible harm
ful influence of poisonous substances
which receives but little attention" con-
unued the physicians. in their statement,
is the evident negligence on the part Of
purchasers In caring for or storing. these
dangerous poisons Existing laws require
That the seller of a poison must exercise
certain precautions, but none of our
american laws require that the purchaser
| or a. poison exercise any care in its use
or storing.
The problem of, adequate legislation
| Tor restricting the sale or use of poisons
IS blocked by the fact that up to the
| present time we have no systematic rec
ords of the frequency with which certain
polsons are used, or OF the number OF
deaths attributable ito any particular SUBJ
stance. Efforts in. this direction have
been made. in England. and I'm the an
hhai mortality report Of the registrar
general of births, deaths and marriages
he includes the enumeration of deaths, in
England and Wales, from various poison
Gus substances, SO far as is known. The
last list published contains total Of
sixty or more titles, and is particularly
interesting in that it suggests the con-
slant variation In the nature of the poi
sons used to cause DEATH -
That there Is need for more 1egisla-
ton i'm all parts of the country to regu-
late the use and sale of cocaine and
opium is shown by the immense guam
titles Of coca leaves and opium which
are imported into this country each year.
according to Drs. Wilbert and Motter.
Omcial reports show that during this year
| 1912 nearly 100000 pdasAass Of toca
leaves from which cocaines&&S made were
| imported into this country fsalong with
more than 1000 ounces of JEepared Co
caine. the great part of which is known
| to pass into Illicit traffic. This quantity
of perhaps the most dangerous habit
| forming drug which threatens the public
health is said to amount to more than
~ 100000 doses. During 1912 more than
462. coo pounds of opium, either crude or
powdered. were, imported. which would
supply more than two billion doses, most
ofswhich is said to-day to be used by drug
fiends 81 $50. . 49,. -
The public, health physicians say; that
the. study which they have made shows
that, while some states have fairly good
laws which regulate the use and sale of
habit-forming drugs the illicit traffic
In these drugs, particularly cocaine. is
practically nullified by the absence OF
federal legislation to restrict or to con-
troll shipment in interstate commerce
For instance. if one state has an eff
fective cocaine law, the users Of this
drug will merely send messengers or go
themselves to the adjoining state and
make their purchases.
This general shortcoming of present
state laws would be effectively over
come, Drs Wiibert and Motter say. "by
the enactment of federal legislation
which is proposed by the so-called Har-
rison antf-narcotic bill, known as House
bill No. $3.50, now pending in Congress.
The direct object Of this bill is to con-
fine the distribution of dangerous habit
forming drugs by providing satisfactory
methods of tracing and accounting for
the drugs from the time that they enter
the country until they reach the ultimate
consumer. This bill was introduced In
Congress by former Representative Fran
els Burton Harrison of New York now
governor general of the Philippines
Few subjects offer more fertile field
for legislation than do the various prob
lens in the manufacture sale and use
of Intoxicating liquors" according to the
statement of Drs. Wilbert and Motter
who consider alcohol as both poison
and narcotic. "1he legislation Of great
est interest in this connection is the law
popularity known as the Webb bill, which
was passed by Congress March I, 1913
and which. as it stands, is designed to
correct. in a measure at least, the prac-
| teal notification of prohibition laws
through interstate commerce.
In reviewing other legislation relating
either to drugs or pofsons, the public
health physicians call attention to a novel
feature Of legislation during the past
year, when the legislature of North Da
kota designated tobacco I'm the form Of
Snuff and cigarettes as a poison. Two
laws recently enacted in that state pro-
hibited the manufacture or sale of these
articles.
One of the most interesting experiments
in colonizing agricultural land which have
been brought to the at
UncOmpahpre tention of adminstratio