The sun., 1919-07-19
DIR. Copeland Can Account for
Only Is Per Cent. of Mar
cOtics Entering City.
PROBLEMS IN NEW LAW
Numerous Arrests and Magis.
trate Blau Sees Increase
in Drug Habit.

have been granted. Add to these facts
the admission yesterday by DR.. Royal
Copeland, Commissioner Of the Depart
ment OF Health, that his office can ac-
count for only Is per cent. of the amount
Of drugs brought into this city every
year. and you have some conception Of
the problem into which the drug traffic
has developed.
Meantime, the wretched line of drug
addicts who appeal daily to the Health
Departments drug dlspensay in Worth
street is becoming more and more I'M
wieldy. Despite the rain 400 men and
women applied yesterday, an assortment
Of humanity that made the throng of
morbid spectators gasp. At 1913 Prince
street, where the addicts are supposed to
register, the number applying for dosage
cards is diminishing daily, but collec-
lively they continue to be the same as
representation of poverty.
wealth. youth and age.
In Prince street yesterday several of
the drug habitues declared that their
doctors were posting signs that mo ad-
diet need apply" The same lack of
obtained in drug stores. DR..
Copeland declared that he had met repre-
of a large number of young
physicians and agents of a similar sized
body of druggists. The former group
wanted a more concise Interpretation of
the new laws and the latter declared it
to be the earnest desire Of the druggists
to cease handling narcotic drugs alto
gether rather than run afoul OF the new
statutes either through ignorance of
landing or fraud on the part
of the addict.
Copeland Asks Druggists' Aid.
DR.. Copeland explained the new dosage
card system to the doctors and then i'm
pressed upon the druggists the lack or
wisdom in their inclination to cut all
habit forming drugs from their stocks
The Commissioner contends that vast
of the physicians in New York
city will not only adhere to the letter or
the law but will constitute themselves
his assistants In administering II.
There still exist. however, the Illicit
Of drugs. the malpractitioner
who will try to continue in his erstwhile
trade Of drug dispensing and the small
shops and sideDeik pedlers from whom
drugs can be had at prices that would
do more to kill the business than all the
laws in the world were 1t not that
real drug addict gladly will pay any
amount to get his favorite dope Just
what the men and women who haven't
the price are going to do remains TO be
seen.
The drug dispensary on Worth street
issues dope on a graduated scale. Inc
daily dosages are decreased until the
applicant can get no more DISCUSSES
changes of name and all sorts OF subter-
fuges are resorted to by the addicts VINO
have taken the limit Issued to one per-
son. The check system balks them' now
ever.
Physicians are reporting TO Commits
sioner Copeland that addicts are coming
to them complaining that they have lost
their dosage cards. Thus the victims are
seeking either to avoid registration or
to get two cards SO they can apply TO
two physicians. The adamant rule OF
no card. no prescription" nullifies such
strategy.
81 have told the representatives Of the
doctors" said Commissioner Copeland.
that Il is up to them to examine the
addict who goes to them with dosage
card, identify him and then prescribe
doses. / suggested to the
druggists that rather than refuse abso-
lutely to handle narcotics It would be
whereby certain designated drug stores
in all sections of the city shold carry
the drugs with which the prescriptions
could be filled.
standard Price for Drugs.
81 suggested likewise that they sell
the drugs at cost and they seemed to
take kindly to the scheme. At the pub
lie clinics morphine and heroin are sold
at 3la cents a grain. l suggested n
standard charge of cents n grain in
drug stores.
There still remains great deal of
work to be done before the drug traffic
can be considered under control. This
department can account for only is per
cent OF the narcotic drugs imported into
this city every year. I can only surmlse
the disposition of the remainder. You
will have to do the same"
Two women were arrested yesterday
on the Bowery on charges Of having
drugs In their possession. One, who said
she was Nellie Duffy, $50 Court street.
Brooklyn. had bottle Of liquid declared
by the police to be a mixture OF several
varieties of dope. The other, Agnes
Parkinson, is Bay Forty-third street,
Brooklyn, is said to have had a quantity
Of heroln.
Mrs Dufry's husband and child were
In court, She said she had been ad-
dicted to drugs for twenty-five years
starting when she was IL years old Her
companion. she said, contracted the
habit eighteen months ago. Both
women were held in $500 bail for further
hearings.
The Federal Grand Jury indicted
Louis Weiss who owns a drug stone at
A
BENJAMIN Berkowitz. Welss's clerk. They
are charged with violating the Harrison
drug law by selling narcotics Illegally
Indictments were returned also against
three drug addicts who are charged with
aiding and abetting in the offence.
Woman witness Is Arrested.
Federal agents went to Cresskill, N. j.,
yesterday to arrest Helen Warren OF
that place as one of the addicts involved
In the Weiss indictment. The woman
took TO the roof Of her Rome and in
formed the agents that she would jump
off II they approached her. The Cress-
kill Fire Department was called to thwart
her. She watched the firemen rig seal
ing ladders TO the sides OF the house
and spread nets in which to catch her
when she dropped. Then she changed
her mind and submitted to arrest.
Magistrate Corrigan held four men
against whom were preferred charges of
dispensing narcotics from a motor car
at Forty-ninth street and Broadway
early yesterday morning. The men were
Anthony Gefwelde. 81 Fourth street.
Long Island City solomon Gefwelde, 1877
Jackson avenue. Brooklyn; Samuel De-
fsnte, 33s Union street, Brooklyn. and
James Aulston. 204 West l2Sth street,