The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1914-04-02

THE DRUG RND4NGRRRD
NATION.


Little STIR has been MAIDS by the
alarming statements about the drug
evil I'LL lately, perhaps because most Of
un zee few Of the dope fiends" aud
have an idea that the men and women
WHO are giving their lives to the war on
such evils ARE prone to magnify them.
But now the problem is engaging the
attention Of 30 many physicians, legisla-
tors, writer's. and social workers, that
our newspaper editors are beginning to
I demand somewhat forciby new laws.
| and the enforcement Of old ones, to
curb this evil. With the cocain habit
practically unrestricted, and the opium
trade hourishing In spite Of the laws
meant 10 regulate II, tn United States,
declares writer IN the New York SIM.
hae now "distancci every nation in the
world IN the volume per capita OF it's H.
legitimate drug consumption And We
I read further:
| THE commerce OF cocain, heroin,
inorphin. aud opium now approximates
the opium traffic Of 1906 Ia China--his
tory's most notorious example of
drupged nation-when after two hun
dred years OF "a commerce In opium 6 s
per cent OF Chioas population were
fuund 1, be opium smokers With the
aid OF practically every civilized nation
In the world, China has today reduced
that iigure TO 4 Per cent while in the
United States twenty years OF PRACTICAL
ly unrestricted traffic IN drugs has made
drug addiets OF 4 45 per cent of the pop
ulation.
Not only is the United States the
scene Of the. worlds greatest drug traf-
fc, hut cocain aud heroin, whose iIle-
gitimats use is peculiar to Americans,
are among the deadItst OF the world 4
hahit.orming drugs. Opium.
morphine and hasheesh send their vic
tins searching ior solitude. but sniff
OF cocaine, after lifting ts victim into
briei rosy cvei estimation, drops him
into the streets and alleys into a state
of dangerous melancholia. So brief Is
: the drugs effect that II takes from 81 20
~ day 10 satisfy cocain addict-more
m 'ney than any ether drug addiction
eSacts. That's why coke produces
m ,re criminals in the city OF New York
tnan any other single cause f"
Bad A. this is, il is growing worse, as
evidenced by our increasing importa-
tion OF cocoa leaves, "ths only source of
cocaln, and the product Of shrub
which cannot be grown here"
According 10 the American Pharma-
ceutical asso nation he coca Import
from 1898 TO 1909, inclusive, was valued
at $SS.2li; from 1908 to 1907. inclusive,
N.6l6,6s0. The present annual con-
sumption OF cocain IL 1900 ounces, Of
which " per cent Is used illegitinately. Z"
Expense evidently fails to detsr the
victim. As n result:
"Its enormous profit explains the
grswth of The cocain business An
ounce OF cocain, Wholesale, costs about
~ Divided into pink pill boxes and
blue bottles, the ounce is sold without
adulteration Tor from 40 to $25 70 those
who know the difference Adulturated
heavily with acetanilid 1t Is sold to
aniffers' for from $40 to so an ounce,
and half erszed tends on the verge of
'cocain leaps can be made to yield even
a greater profit Thus profits ranging
from 500 to 1900 per cent on the invest
ment have cntrenched the cocain bust
ness on nation wide scale"
But We are not to believe that the
only cocain finds are crooks and their
associates. Or. Chas b. Towns. New
York authority, is quoted as saying that
the widespread use OF cocain in the
comparatively short period OF time since
It's discovery has been brought about by |
patent preparations containing small |
quantities OF n" Then, to take the
Sun writer's word for Il. ''25 per cent OF
Americas drug addic,s learned their
vice IN DEBTORS office" Aud further.
''the use Of drugs has creps into colleges
where students take them to counteraet |
the effect Of overwork: they have crept |
into the arm, where soldiers take them |
10 eounteract the effects OF underworld -
Writers nee them TO "whip their in |
ventiyenesr into action" "waiters use
drugs to quicken their memory" and
'it has been estimated that 10 per cent
OF all the medical men in the United
States are drug addicts" Worst Of all. !
SCHOOL children, even at the ayes Of 7 |
and 8, are offered cocsin and heroin bv
pedlers about public school buildings"
Turning in another direction we see
that:
In that section of civilized society