New-York tribune., 1919-01-28
Drug Problem
Grows Serious,
Says Copeland
HcaI,l, Commissioner Plans
New Bureaus to Handle
Sale When the City Is Dry

Health Commissioner Copeland de-
clared Yesterday that New York had
from $4,000 to 100000 drug victims, and
that the number would multiply rapidly
with the advent of prohibition, unless
steps wcrc taken to prevent it. He was
going to attack the drug habit with
t@o prevention and cure.
Before june 30 he win have the en-
tire legitimate traffic in babit-formng
drugs in the hands of city authorities,
50 far as distribution is concerned, he
SAID, BY that date, also one of the big
buildings on North Brother Island
viii be devoted solely to reclaiming
drug victims.
The Health Commissioner declared
yesterday that thirty-three drug stores
in the city sold enough habit forming
twenty grains apiece every day. And
there are 2,567 other drug stores in the
city.
Those facts relate solely to the de
Ultimate" trade in habit-forming drugs,
sand DR.. Copeland The law as now
administered permitted the sale of
2,638 ounces Of such drugs in thirty
three drug stores in thirty-one days,
he said
"Bootlegger' Up to Police.
1t is the "legitimate" traffic which is
the object of Dr.. Copeland's proposed
reformation. The stealthy shadows
which slip in and out Of Railways in the
side streets OF Eighth Avenue after
midnight and prowl the back rooms of
saloons, the billiard rooms, the coffee
nd ho, to
are the affairs of the police, 70 said.
When the drug stations of the
Board Of Health. or the Board cf Drug
Control which Commissioner Copeland
has IN mind, have been established, it
viii be up to the police to catch the
bootleg" vendors and to raid their
stockrooms and the hidden dens whore
they NIX starch and talcum and sugar
and other cheap adulterativcs with
their drugs The Legitimate" traffic.
which the Commissioner believes now
supplies a large proportion Of drug
users, will ho under CONTROL
The cunning of the drug slave he
sad, had perverted to his own desire
the law winch was designed to curb it,
There is serious defect in the
law al present" said the Comm ssioner
80 he theory Of the law is thai a ply
sician may prescribe his favorite
narcotic to the addict, reducing the
allowance each day until d cure is
effected
Addict Has Many Doctors
Ut works out something like this:
The addict goes to De A. and gives his
name as Smthq He is examined and
receives prescription Then he goes
- Or. B, gives his name as Jones and
duplicates the performances He may
get thrd prescription from Dr. c,
giving his name as Brown tie takes
the three prescriptions to different
drugstores, gets we'll stocked up and
is mighty hard to catch"
Only such methods as this, Commits
sioncr Copeland believes, can account
for the narcotic sales reports made by
the thirty-thrce retail druggists in
December They sold 1880 ounces of
heroin, SO ounces of morphine and
seventy-two ounces Of cocaine.
"The Police Department estimates"
said the Commissioner, that there are
10000 drug addicts among the criminals
findings confirm an estimate by JUS
tice Cornelius f. Collins, Of Special
Sessions, that there are from $4,000 to
100000 altogether
81 believe that with the advent of
prohibition the number will increase
We shall devote an entire building on
North Brother Island to trying to re-
make some of these unfortunatcs. Both
accepted methods Of treatment will
be tried immediate withdrawal and
gradual reduction Of the patients sup
ply OF his drug
The Prevention Measures
AS to the prevention measures to be
adopted, Commissioner Copeland said
q i,;, : l,
drugs would have to register with the
Board Of Health the Board of Drug
Control cor some other body" if he
hoped to obtain his supply through
legitimate channels. When he regis
tered he would receive a registration
card, ON one side OF which were his
finger prints and photograph and on
the other d prescription blank. This
Identifying registration card, he said,
would have to be presented at one of
the authorized drug stations" to get
any of the habit-forming drugs.
II understand that there is plenty of
legal power for the health authorities
TO establish such a SYSTEM" DR. Cope-
land said, "and l intend to put it IN
force as soon as practicable 1t will
be IN operation before June 80.
"Ihla curse of drug addiction is
tremendously widespread. 1t extends to
-'-'' "NNiSNy, ana 10 every sec
ton of the city, and have seen enourb
extreme cases TO make me determined
that something effective shall be done
TO check the evil, especially with the
prohibition OF alcoholic stmulants i'm
mincnt.
The other night was the last per
son to leave the Office An omaciated
horrlole looking man leapt at me in the
hallway He looked like an assassin
and exclaimed, What do you want?'
want morphine,' he shouted
II took him inside, promised him re-
lief from his condition and got him to
regard me as Il friend
DO you know many people like
:" Lots of 'em, he said.
DO you know as many as 200?'
Two hundredl' he replied: There
are more than that in the munition
factory where | work."
Judge Collins, of the Court of cro
clal sa Sessions, said Yesterday that from
~ 10 80 per cent of all cases in that
court inVovling moral turpitude are
con connected IN some way with the drug
'If the contention of medical author
itles IS true he said, chat prohibition
prlngs an increase in the use of nor-
c"ucs, there is great danger that tha
courts, Jalls and hospitals will be fllcd
TO oVeriiowing literally with addicts."
Or. ]. Sumner Stone