The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1915-03-05

sumed In This Country Annually.
Washington.-The Harrison anti-nar-
cotic act, effective March /, will great
ly decrease the use. Of drugs and tend
to lessen crime in this country If it
proves as effective as its sponsors hope.
This measure, enacted last Deem
Der, provides in effect that on and aft
er March 1, 1915, no dealer shall be al
lowed to sell or give away habit form
ing drugs without a physicians pre-
scription or direct instructions from a
doctor. Drugs thus placed under the
ban are opium, coca leaves or any COM
pound, manufacture, salt derivative or
preparation made from such drugs.
Remedies which contain more than
two grains of opium or more than one
fourth of grain of morphine, or one
eighth of grain Of heroin, or one
grain of codeine are included in the list
of narcotics which cannot be dispensed
in any manner unless specifically or
dered by a physician. A special tax of
81 a year must be paid from March
by all persons who sell or dispense
such drugs. Any person who fails to
comply with the requirements of the
law is subject to fine Of not more
than $1,000 or imprisonment for term
of five years, or both.
Congress appropriated $4,000 to be
dispensed by the commissioner of in
ternal revenue to enforce the new law.
According to statistics furnished con-
gress at the time the Harrison bill was
under consideration. per cent of the
prisoners in large jails and state
prisons are addicted to the opium habit
in some one of its forms, and of the
general criminal population, 45.4S per
cent are habitual users of the drug. In
the medical profession Of this same
territory there appears to be an average
of FOG per cent who use opium and
1872 per cent of trained nurses are
likewise addicted to drugs in one form
or another.
Statistics furnished by manufacture
ers show that the use of morphine in
the rural districts of some eastern
states has increased 100 per cent in
the last ten years. An estimate made
from the sales book of one firm shows
that in one or two of these states the
use of opium has increased 100 per
cent
According to the arguments made by
the proponents of the law the United
States government is bound by the con-
vention signed at The Hague, Jan. %,
1912, to control the sale Of opium and
allied traffics in this country. 1t has
been pointed out that during the last
twenty-five years opium, morphine,
coca leaves and cocaine have been i'm
ported into this country, manufactured
and placed upon the general market in
such forms as to be available to any
one who desires them or who desires
to trade in them.
The report of the international Cpl
um commission shows that Italy, with
a population of 100000, imports and
consumes but 6,000 pounds of medici-
nal opium each year; that Spain. with
a population of 100000, imports and
uses so little that it is not separately
entered in customs or other returns.
Germany, whose population is 6O'OOO,-
600, imports about 1900 pounds for
home consumption and Holland about
5000 pounds a year. These figures
show that the five European countries.
with total population Of 164,0OO,OOO,
import and consume less than 10000
pounds of opium annually.
According to figures laid before con-
gress, the United States imports and
consumes over 100000 pounds of OPT
um each year. 1t has been claimed
that the importation Of opium and
morphine into the United States dur
ing the last fifty years has not been
excessive, but has simply grown with
the increase in population. Advocates
of the law which has just been writ
ten upon the statute books deny this
assertion. Figures in their possession
show that the importation of opium
during the decade of 1909 was
1,426, 1876 pounds as against an impor-
tation Of 6,435,623 pounds for the dec
ade 1909, an increase Of 351 per
cent. This has not taken into account
opium struggled during this period
Thus, as against 1873 per cent in
GTedSe III llt lOLAi HOPhi"tiSh AZ NAS
FIVE decades, there was an increase in
the importation and consumption OF
opium of 351 per cent.
1t Is claimed that this enormous In
crease is directly due to the facility
with which the drug may be imported,
manufactured into its various deriva-
lives and preparations and placed with
in the reach Of the individual.
There has been in this country"
says the report on the Harrison bill
IAN almost shameless traffic in these
drugs. Criminal classes have been
created, and the use Of the drugs, with
much accompanying moral and eco
monte degradation, is widespread
among the upper classes Of society.
We are an opium consuming nation to-