The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-15

Mrs. William * Nanderbit's anti
drug camp ign will concern itself first
with the passage Of necessary Federal
and State legislation. for present state
legislation Is practically nil and there Is
no Federal legislation, save in the case
If the opium traffic which. instead of
being killed thereby has been increased
it is asserted. This anti-opium logIs-
lation which went into effect on Fehru-
AIRY ?. 1909, prohibited the importation
Of any opium into the United States
except for medicinal purposes. 1t caused
the ancient secret Of making smoking
opium to be brought To the United
States from China and tons ri opiwn
imported FOR medicinal purposes was
cooked into smoking opium here.
The opium poppy began To be grown
n California; licenses were taken out
under the act Of 1880 for the American
manufacture Of smoking opium. and
smoking opium actually began 70 he cx-
ported. Meanwhile the Government is
losing si.5oO.ooo annually in opium
duties. while ten big firms are importing
100000 pounds of crude opium Il year
FOR medicinal purposes" and selling II
IN 500 pound lots To any one who can
show anything like druggists order
Increases in duties in both the rayn"
and the Underwood tar.ff are the Gov
ernments only other anti-drug steps.
The Underwood bill, on October 2, 1913.
made these increases over the fayn"
tariff: Crude opium imported for med
c.nal purposes, $3.50 to So pound.
dried opium imported fof medicinal pur-
poses s. to 81 pound; morphine ana
It's derivatives. hero!n and codeino'
80 to SO an ounce, cocaine, Sl5o I"
- an ounce. coca leaves. cents L. 10
cents a pound.
The effect of tariff increase in ahat-
my the importation Cf these drugs may
u. seen in these figures: The Payne
tariff ON August :. 1893 raised the duty
on cocaine from % per cent, ad valorem
To $50 an ounce, and the cocaine I'M
port Jumped fr An 32.212 ounces IN 1909
To 54,560 ounces in 1910, II took coca
leaves off the free list and imposed
duty Of ) cents pound, and the coca
import jumped from 1oS.5i6 pounds in
1910 to l22G.77l.j pounds in 1871.
once inside the country the Govern
ment exercises no more supervision
over these deadly habit forming drugs
excepting opium than over r"a'"'k
p!umes or frankfurtcrs
II Is in the New York Legislature
,hat Mrs. Nand"rhl's nati"awid" strug-
81. to cNtormlnat" the vice of drug adj
dirtiun l. already opening. Ernest Il.
Coulter of Rector street has left in
he hands of Edward j, Mct;"ldrick, in
charge of New York city legislation at
Albany. Mrs. NandcrhiIt'S hill practically
prohibiting the sale If cocaine. hrroin
and morphine.
In New York city there Is practically
no restraint upon the c"mn'r'" IN
habit forming drugs; as a result there
are ten deadly Lrug eases I" ON" of
alcoholism" says Or. Jackson Il. Camp
bell of a53 West l3oth street for twenty
seven years a physician in tn" Depart
mrnt Of Correction. If the drug addict
desires to Inconvenience himself enough
To obey the Penal code (which requires
a physicians prescription, which shall
he used only once) he may have printed
the stationery of a theoretical physician
residing in Walid Walla and may write
thereupon his own drug prescriptions.
Or he may go To any one of zoo dis
reputable doctors in New York city who
will write him drug prescription for
- cents.
Dr. Abraham Glickstcin, now in the
Atlanta pcnitentiary. was one Of these
disreputable physicians, lie not only
wrote drug prescriptions, but filled them
himself lie bought $500 ounces OF
cocaine between December o. 1910 and
January 80, 1913, although thousands of
doctors use less than one ounce in IA
lifetime. But this was perfectly legal:
it was Dr. Glickstein's opium indiscrc-
tions which sent him to the Federal
pcnitentiary, Assistant District Attor-
ncy Floyd Wilmot has under present
surveillance West Side doctor who has
200 legal customers to whom he sells
legally thirty-one half grain tablets of
cocaine for 80 cents
Usually, however, drug addicts do not
bother about what the Penal Code says
As far hack as February u lQln prasi