New-York tribune., 1921-03-27
McAdoo w ants
y. S. to Forbid
Making Heroin
Chief Magistrate Intinates
Local Relief Has Broken
Down and Government
Should Wipe Out Drug
Registration Abandoned
Riker's leland Hospital Is
Now Only City Agency
for Treatment Of Addicts

for Treatment Of Addlcts
The situation resulting from tho
easy procurement Of heroin,. the ahan-
donment Of registration Of drug. ad-
diets and the lack Of hospital faciN-
ties for the treatment Of an increasing
number Of young addicts are the sub
jects of a review of the conditions made
yesterday By Chief Magistrate William
McAdoo, who intimates that local relief
facilities have completely broken down.
ghs chief magistrate said he has pre-
serted the question to Congressman
Mills in the hope that he might see
his way to introduce Federal legisla
ton for control Of the situation.
There will be no permanent relief,
The chief magistrate said, until the
mapufacture and distribution of the
drug heroin are abolished, by an act Of
Congress. The city and Federal laws
aews existing, he says. amount to this:
Selling the drug is crime and
leaves the seller liable to severe pun
ishment if convicted. If an addict buys
the drug, has it in his possession and
is caught with it, that is also crime.
If he 10 arrested and charged with pos
session Of the drug and tho Law is car
ried out hs is probably sent to the PEN
itentiary, from which he is transferred
at , once to the hospital on Riker's
island. If he uses the drug and has
no money to buy any moro he comes
down here and goes eventually to the
same place. Is
Registration Abandoned
"Registration Of drug addicts has
been abandoned, and Of all the ad-
diets who come here not two out Of
hundred buy the drug from druggists
ur<son doctors prescription. Even
When they outwardly adhere to the
setter of the law and get the prescrip
tson, they buy additional doses from
the peddlers.
The facts ought to interest the at
tsntion of thinking people, says Chief
ldagistrate McAdoo, wto pointed out
through his office from five to ten young
lnen, mostly in the early twenties as to
age, but drug .addicts for periods rang
ing from one to. ten years.
The drug taken is almost nvari-
ably heroin," he said. Gas medicine
is is not needed by the medical profess
sion. These young men are mostly out
q employment. when they come here.
lhey all buy the drug from peddlers.
The drug costs them on ths average
OF from $15 to SIS week. In answer
tn ftto III { In <c
bay the drug, board and clothe yourself
when you are not working?' they al
most invariably say they get the money
from relatives or that they saved money
While they were working. This latter
statement is in all cases entirely un-
tIuS. They, therefore, sponge on rela-
.tsvEsf and friends or obtain sufficient
money by petty thieying and swindling
Commit Desperate Crimes
There is scarcely any crime des-
peTate drug addict will not commit in
order to obtain money for the drug.
considerable percentage of these men
admit that they have criminal records
burglars. pickpockets, felonious as
sault and IN many instances petit lar
cony.s The largest part of them have
nadY public hospital treatment either
at Riverside or Riker's Island or Belle
sues Most of them confess to going
Immediately back to the drug on their
release from the hospital. Some claim
that they remain away from it for sew
tscn: -
The younger men were sjected from
.ae asuy beconse OF drug addiction. A
#HAy svrvcd u. the N"vy throughout the
n and still S!E;ileI numbers turned
WITH good overseas war records.
Under a recent nrra n orc 1na,lt 20
allowed happily, to send women ad-
a4cs to drug colony at the Bradford
iseformatory. This appears to work very
satisfactorily and in the nature OF
taings is great Improvement on former
rssditioYs; Formerly addicts were sent
tssSVa VarXlck, Bellevue, Metropolitan and
a.re now closedsto the addict. /.
lis restricts our commitments en-
sjIely to the workhouse hospital on
niker's Island. Physical cond ftions
there as to buildings, segregation and
snahy other things are not as good as
could be. wished. The most serious
drawback is the fact that there is nc
class separation. The criminal addict
ands decent, hardworking industrious
patients have to live and consort to-
gsthsr. The island !. is advantageous
as place for a colony. But there
should be proper buildings and an en-
IRE separation of the different classes
Of patients.
THE present situation is deplorable
End this army of addicts is \ positive
hanger to the community. Many OF
them. are potential criminals and the
others require constant custodial care
and are burden to the community and
the taxpayers. sl.s-
The treatment at Riker'ss Island ia
aes sless than ninety days and generally
about 400 days."
Matamoros Tronns n Shoo, ~,