The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1914-04-10
THIS DRUG-ENDANGERED NATION


THIS DRUG-ENDANGERED NATION.
Little stir has been made by the
alarming statements about the drug
evil till lately, perhaps because most
of us see few of the dope fiends" and
have an idea that the men and wo-
men who are giving their lives to the
war on such evils are prone to mag
Nifty them. But now the problem is
engaging the attention of so many
physicians, legislators, writer's, and
social workers, that our newspaper
editors are beginning to demand
somewhat forcibly new laws, and the
enforcement of old ones, to curb this
evil With the cocain habit practi-
cally unrestricted, and the opium-trade
flourishing in spite of the laws meant
to regulate it, the United States, de-
clares a writer in the New York Sun,
has now "distanced every other nation
in the world in the volume per capita
of its illegitimate drug consumption"
And we read further:
"The commerce in cocain, heroin
morphine, and opium now approximates
the opium traffic of 1906 in China
history's most notorious example of
drugged nation--when after two hum
dred years its commerce in opium 6.5
per cent of China's population were
found to be opium With the
aid of practically every civilized nation
in the world, China has to-day reduced
the figure to Al per cent while in tn
United States twenty years Of prac-
J tica1ly unrestricted traffic in drugs
has made drug addicts of 445 per cent
of the population.
mot only is the United States the
scene Of the worlds greatest drug
| traffic, but cocain, and heroin, whose
| illegitimate use is peculiar to Ameri-
cans, are among the deadliest of the
worlds habit-forming drugs. Opium
morphin, and hasheesh send their vic
tins searching for solitude, but sniff
of cocain after lifting its victim into
half-hours rosy overestimatlon
drops him into the streets and alleys
: in state Of dangerous melancholia
! So brief is the drugs effect that !
, takes from 81 to SIS day to satisf,
!, cocain addict--more money than an.
! other drug addiction exacts. That
, why coke produces more criminals
| in the city of New York than any othe
, cause"
Bad as this is, it is growing worse
i as evidenced by our increasing impor
, tation of cocoa leaves, the only SQUIRE
, of cocain and the product that canno
t be grown here"
, According to the American Phar
{ maceutical Association the coca i'm
> port from 1898 to 1902, inclusive, wa
i valued at ss3,214; from 1903 to 1907
/ inclusive, s1,616,690. The present an
t nual consumption of coeain is 10000
!. ounces, of which So per cent is use
y illegitimately.
E Expense evidently fails to deter tn
: victim AS a result:
s Its enormous profit explains tn
y growth of the cocain industry. A
" ounce of cocain, wholesale, cost
e about 81. Divided into pink pill
II boxes and blue bottles, the ounce
E sold without adulteration for fro
h $40 to $25 to those who use the need
e and know the difference. Adulterate
h heavily with acetanlid it is sold
IS 'sniffers' for from $40 to $50 an ounc
A and half-crazed fiends on the vers
h of the 'cocain leaps can be made
ID yield to even greater profit. Thu
y profits ranging from 500 to 1900 p
,e cent On the investment have e.
ID trenched the cocain business on
a nationwide scale"
ir But we are not to believe that tt
it only eocain fiends are crooks and a
lie sociates. DR.. Charles B. Towns,
ty New York authority, is quoted as sa
or ing that the widespread use of coca
r. in the comparatively short period
t. time since its discovery has broug
Il. about by patent preparations contai
D. ing small quantities of it." Then,
IL take the Sun writer's word for it, :
s. per cent of Americas addicts learn'