The Washington times., 1922-07-31
Criminals
and Drugs
vYYHISKEY and drugs are the
w father and mother of Pow
w ERTY, DIRT and CRIME.

WhlSkey Is dead, offlclally, althougn
quite active, unofficially. Drugs
are more used, and more actively
dangerous than ever, producing
more crime than ever. This news
paper published recently prison sta
tistics as to the use of drugs. The
letter below, from the chief physi-
clan of Sing Sing Prison, will i'm
press and DEPRESS every thinking
reader. This country is striving to
improve the human race by pre-
venting the use of harmful stimu-
lants. To that end, prohibition
was put into the Constitution. But
drugs, apparently, come in when
other things go out or become diff
ficult to obtain. 1t is shocking to
read that among criminals sent to
Sing Sing the use of drugs has in.
creased NINE HUNDRED AND
THIRTY PER CENT.
1t is depressing to read of the
crimes that follow drug use.
And MOST depressing is the fact
that so many drug using criminals
are young, many first offenders.
The peddlers of drugs find Gus
toners and victims among weak
willed young people, And drug vic
tins delight in spreading among
the young the vice that they should
hate.
Whiskey is bad enough, but not
quite as bad as drugs. The whiskey
victim, as a rule, is not a wilful
creator of whiskey victims. He will
say, usually, to the young: "See
what whiskey has done to me; keep
AWAY from it"
The drug fiend invites others to
try that which has destroyed him.
Read the letter from the prison
physician, and you will see how
necessary is the war that the Hearst
newspapers have carried on against
the drug traffic.
Sing Sing Prison.
Ossining, July %, 1922.
To the Editor of The Washington
Times.
My Dear Sir:-I am very happy
that you made special mention in
your paper a few days ago, to the
drug problem, because, l feel after
some years of observation that it is
a problem that must be met, as 1t
is becoming a very important factor
in human conduct.
have noticed for some time your
paper has taken a very strong stand
on this question of drug addicts and
| wish to commend you for it.
Some time last November l made
an address on the question of drug
addicts at the American Prison Con-
gress, which was held at Jackson
Vile, Fla, and l am sending you
some abstracts from that address that
may be of interest to you.
1--WE admitted to prison during the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1915,
$40 prisoners, and found ten drug
admission. Year ending June 80,
1917, 1,070, we found four drug ad-
diets, or three.tenths of 1 per cent
Year ending June 80, 1913, 1897
prisoners, eleven drug addicts, or
nine-tenths of l per cent. June 80,
1919, 1,073 prisoners, thirteen drug
addicts, or lilo per cent. June 80,
1920, 1,4d0 prisoners, thirty-three
drug addicts, or 2 2-100 per cent.
June 80. 1921, 1,416 prisoners,
ninety-three drug addicts, or 6h per
cent, and since June 80, 1921, up
to the present date, 1923 prisoners,
1874 drug addicts, or 9k per cent.
Let US look little more in de-
tail in the history of the SO drug
addicts admitted to prison during
the year ending June 80, 1921. We
find that az were first offenders and
81 were second or third offenders.
Seventy-seven were white and six
teen were colored; as to the crime
for which they were sentenced we
find grand larceny, 80; burglary, AZ;
robbery, 4; assault, 8; violation of
parole, 8; carrying concealed weap-
ons, q; forgery, 1; manslaughter, L;
abandonment, Il; aiding escape, /.
The kind Of drugs used were: Heroin,
81; morphine, 27; cocaine, z; opium,
q; morphine and heroin, 6; heroin
and cocaine, 8; morphine and CO.
caine, 1; and heroin, morphine and
cocaine, 8. The maximum number
of grains used so, and the minimum
grains. The average age of a drug
addict was thirty years old. All ad-
diets were asked the cause of their
delinquency and gave the following
reasons: Drugs, 48; bad company,
8; needed money, Z; no work, 8;
gambling, 2; drink, 1; out for good
time, /; too much mother-in-law, 1;
no reason, 13; innocent, 8. Since
June, 1921, up to the present date,
the character of crime, age Of ad-
dict, kind of drug used, and cause
of delinquency given by the inmates
has been about the same as found in
preceding years; only the number of
addicts have increased.
So that you may have an idea of
the greater number, let us compare