The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-05-13
ANTI-DRUC LAWS
DOING THEIR WORK
Hundreds In New York Seeking
Treatment In Hospitals.
SITUATION NOT UNEXPECTED

Price of Dope Has Advanced Over
1000 Per Cent In Many Instances,
and Fiends Find II Almost lmpossi-
BILE TO Buy IL at Any Prioe-Prisons
Filled With Victims.
New Yorkshire the strict enforce
ment of the drastic anti-drug laws in
this city has made 1t almost impossible
for dope fends to buy narcotics the re-
suits are both sad and interesting.
AN appalling situation In which
drug maniacs are allowed at large" is
Ernest X. Coulter's Characterization of
the present state of affairs in New
York. Mr.. Coulter represented Mrs.
William X. Vanderbilt In the long
fight to suppress drug traffic In this
city. He was asked to tell what ought
to be done to handle the many cases
of drug victims who, deprived of CO.
caine. heroin and other habit forming
drugs. are committing acts of violence
anu hliihS IN Sity . pihoohs nv hoSPi
tails.
II don't believe the people of the city
realize the seriousness OF the situa-
tion." said Mr.. Coulter. ut must be
understood that these men who rob,
assault and kill to get morphine or
some similar drug are insane. They
nae &ha MOOD 10 lid 80 I,,n,
tics when the craving comes over
them. The drug NEAR more to them
than life. and they will never hesitate
to sacrifice ~liyes-others and their own
to get the stuff.
The situation which has arisen is
perilous In the extreme. but it is not
unexpected. and ample warning of
what would come about IL the city did
not prepare for IL was given a year ago
before the Boylan law became effective
on July l last The city was TOLD then
that it must prepare to handle hun
dreds - yes. thousands - of unfortu
mates.
Commitment of drug habitues to
hospitals had been found to be a fiat
failure, because the hospitals were too
overcrowded to keep these cases a suf-
ficient length of time. In addition ex-
perience had shown that the hospitals
We're not the proper places for drug
cases, because the clinical or medical
treatment needs to be followed by a
prolonged social. physical and mental
rehabilitation. The prisons were then
overloaded with drug users. and we
found that In nearly every case the
prison terms were too short for treat
ment to effect anything like a cure.
Consider this: From 40 per cent to
60 per N of prisoners are drug users.
Leaving out those sentenced for this
very thing. from 30 per cent to so per
cent OF persons convicted of other of
lenses are found to be drug users.
They have to be treated for this, but
the workhouse sentences, for instance,
are so short that nothing adequate can
be done to rid them of the habit"
The Boylan law. the Vanderbilt and
other anti-drug crusades and to some
extent the war have increased drug
prices as much as 1000 per cent.
A year ago a six ounce can of opium
cost the "pipey" or smoker from SO to
$40. Now IL costs from $50 to 500.
Sold by the toy" the smallest and
most popular measure. Ii brought 81
for first class opium or 80 cents for
lower grade. Now Lai Yuen. the best
opium, costs SO a "toy." Recently 300
six ounce tins OF this opium sold for
$4,000. and the buyer expected to
make $4,000 profit.
Cocaine. now selling for $50 an
ounce, could be obtained a year ago
for So or less. A deck" of cocaine.
the small package generally used in
the Illegal drug trade. sells now for
$3.50 to So. and the user gets less than
he used to for % cents. 1t is now sold
In smaller packages. containing only a
few doses. for SO cents or 81. The
drug now is often adulterated.
Heroin, or morphine diacetyl. was
imported largely from Germany and
little manufactured here. 1t comes in
tablets. which are crushed and sniff
ed" through the nose. A hundred tab
let's now sell for IS to So. Before the
war they cost 81. Heron powder
adulterated with sugar of lead is sold
at a corresponding advance.
The morphine user pays almost as
much as the opium smoker. Morphine
is selling now at S. for twenty-five
grains. Formerly the same amount
was sold for % to 35 cents.