The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-10-08
100000 USE DRUGS
Number Of Addicts in United
States Overestimated.
Ofnciais Of tho Government Public
Health Service Make Thorough
investigation Of the Matter
Figures Based on Tax.

Health Service Make Thorough
investigation Of the Matter
Figures Based on Tax.
Washington.-While holding It true
that the amount of opium and. coca
consumed in this country annually 10
cut Of all proportion to the actual
need for medicinal purposes. Martin
I. Wilbert, technical assistant, divis.
ion Of pharmacology. hygienic labora
tory Of the United States public health
service. Is Of the opinion that the
number Of drug fends IL overesti.
mated. To correct existing impress
sions the health service has been
looking into the subject.
Practically all the opium and coca
used in this country is imported
through legitimate channels. Mr.. vii.
bert finds. Because Of the compare
lively high import tax, car Is exer.
cised to insure the reporting and re-
cording Of all the products 30 that
fairly accurate data are at the dis.
posal of the investigator. The rec.
ords show that for several years the
total amount Of such drugs imported
has been fairly uniform and will ag-
gregate an average of approximately
$500, 900, 900 doses of opium, its de-
rivatives and alkaloids, and 1926, 000, 900
doses of coca leaves and cocaine.
These figures serve to definitely fix
the amount Of available material, and
quite regardless of the proportion OF
the several drugs that may be used
legitimately or illegitimately, the sum
total of illegitimate use cannot we'll
exceed the sum total Of the available
material.
The Investigator found a rather in.
teresting source Of information re-
garding the actual number and kind
of addicts through the reports of the
enforcement of the Tennessee anti.
narcotic law Of 1913. Lucian p.
Brown, the state food and drugs com.
missioner Of Tennessee, in a recent
report says that after IL months Of
operation there were registered in
the state of Tennessee under the pro-
visions of the antinarcotic law 1870
persons Of all ages and color.
"The average consumption per day
of morphine addicts was 8.5 grains, or
approximately 1000 doses each
month, or $4,000 doses a year." said
Mr.. Wilbert. Tennessee contains
slightly more than 2 per cent of the
total population of the United States,
and on the supposition that the same
ratio Of addicts and the amount of
material consumed will hold good
throughout the country, we would
have q total Of something more than
$4,000 drug habitues, consuming ap'
proximately 1,146, 10 $1,000 average
doses a year.
Granting the somewhat improba'
BILE assertion that 80 per cent of the
opium imported is used illegitimately,
at the rate that it is said to be con
sumed in Tennessee, we could have
as a maximum not more than 1877 ,OOO
users of opium, its derivatives and
alkaloids, in all parts of the United
States.
in regard t. the use of cocaine, a
recent authority asserts hat one
ounce of cocaine is enough to keep
so fiends thoroughly well doped fol
q year. Granting that all the avail
able 100000 ounces of cocaine were
used illegitimately, there could be at
this rate a total of 100000 cocaine
fiends in the United States.
That this estimate is somewhat
high would appear from a report by
C. G. Steinmetz, who made a study OF
Is men who acquired the habit while
employed where the drug is manufac.
tured. The daily quantity taken va.
ried from 20 to 80 grains; the method
Of taking it was solely by snuffing 1t.
Even on the basis of the lower quality
the consumption per annum would be
in the neighborhood Of Is ounces, and
this would reduce the possible number
Of cocaine fends very materially.
pharmacists will appreciate that
the figures given by Steinmetz are
much more in accord with actual prac'
tice than are the figures previously
quoted. Taking all the available facts
into consideration, it would appear
that the estimate made by the Com.
mittee of the American Pharmaceutt'
cal association some years ago that
the drug addicts in this country dc
not exceed 100000 in number is ap
proximately correct, even at the pres.
ent time.
THAT other previously made est.
mates Of the number Of addicts in this
country were altogether erroneous 10