The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-28
CRUSADE
To STAMP OUT
DOPE EVIL
Famous Writer Denounces
Forces Responsible for
Increase in Addicts.

NEW YORK, May 2S.-Asserting
that the world at large confrontS
one Of the most serious crises in
the history of civilization and that
immediate and most radical meas
ures are necessary to check the
spread Of narcotic addiction, to
which hundreds of thousands are
falling prey, C. Gardner Sullivan,
world-known author of photoplay
and magazine stories, calls upon all
statesmen, preachers, editors, writ
ers and business men throughout
the nation to do their bit to stamp
out the evil.
Dope" declared Sullivan, sis the
gravest menace which today con.
fronts the United States of America.
Dope Traffic Grows.
cts victims, numbering hundreds
Of thousands, are scattered about
the length and breath Of the land.
They range from children to old
men and women and embrace the
entire social scale. from the dock
laborer to the bank president.
Every profession, every walk of life,
has contributed it's quota to dope
and the sacrifice continues daily.
Immense quantities of morphine,
heroin and cocaine are yearly
smuggled into America across the
Canadian and Mexican borders. The
dope traffic has grown Ialarmingly
within the past ten years and is
now Of gigantic proportions"
While it is generally held to be
true that many drug addicts con-
tracted the habit as the result of
morphine dosage while under medi-
cal treatment, the evil has increas-
ed far beyond this phase.
Backed by Vicious Ring.
Thousands OF men and women
are being added yearly to the pitt
full ranks Of the dope army through
the efforts of drug peddlers backed
by one of the most powerful and
most vicious organizations in Amer
lean history-the dope ring.
1.-THE dope ring is composed of
rings within rings, the inner ring
undoubtedly including men power
full in finance, politics and society.
But the trail to the men higher
up is cunningly covered. No In
vestigator has penetrated to the
inner circle.
1.-THE medical profession has been
blamed for the rapid growth of the
drug habit, but the great majority
of American physicians, fully cog
infant of the danger attached to the
administering of drug, are at the
present time doing everything pos.
sible to combat the evil.
Urges Concerted Action.
"It is upon the few interruptions
or careless doctors that the brunt
of the blame must fall. This type
OF doctor, and fortunately they are
few, is a greater menace to the
American public than the dope ped
der who hawks his nefarious wares
on the public streets"
Sullivan believes that only by con-
certed action among the leading
thinkers of the nation can any
good be achieved in the fight
against narcotic addiction. He
points out that there are enough
hopeless addicts in the country to
populate a good-sized city; that it
is a silent, tortured army, hoping,
ever hoping, for relief from the
beast, whose fangs are wrapped
about it.
Sullivan, in his profession as a
screen writer, has already contri-
buted his bit to the world campaign
against dope, in the writing Of HUI
man Wreckage," the anti-narcot1c
photoplay which Mrs. Wallag, Reid
and her loyal co-workers are pre-
pairing to present on the screen un-
der the auspices of the Los Angeles
Anti Narcotic League.