Evening star., 1951-02-04

study the teen-age addiction prob.
lem. 1t will be an attempt to fl,
the cause of the outburst and tt
evaluate its size. At the same
time, the committee will institute
studies Of the problem and sci
up recommendations for pre-.
vention and treatment.
Police in other cities have re.
acted to public concern and art
making greater effort to sweep ur
the peddlers and "pushers" whose
prey includes boys and girls.
Control efforts, however, ar.
Spotty. In st. Louis there is a.
yet no special police narcotic.
squad although a request for ont
was made by the Federal Mar.
cotics Bureau.
Chicago has not yet organized
for an attack on teen-age ad.
diction. Some community agen.
cies there are attempting to war;
about the habit-forming proper.
ties Of narcotics. Social welfare
groups have sponsored anti-nar.
cotics campaigns in school, con.
Quoted mass meetings and put ur
thousands of posters on the dope
must co. theme.
Los Angeles, currently beset by
increased use of marijuana, ha.
no organized education campaign
but last year the local office ol
the Narcotics Bureau provided
speakers for about 100 meeting.
on the subject.
/ Some efforts have been made
along the preventive lines in New
York. The city's Board of Edu.
cation said that the evils of drug
addiction henceforth will be "em-
phasized" in it's hygiene courses.
Some concerned people believe
that illegal syndicates are behind
"a concerted, well-organized plar
to ma ke huge. long-range profits
by turning adventurous young folk
into lifelong "junkies.
j Others, like 1t. Bernard Boylar
of the New York City police mar
icotics squad, say that young ad-
diets are more dangerous to the
syndicates than they are valuable
as customers.
They are likely to talk" said
1t. Boylan. "and they certainly are
going to arouse the public about
the drug situation as a whole"
Youngsters Clam Up
Law enforcement officers have
found few of the youngsters will
talk freely about their addiction
or reveal how and where they OBJ
tanned drugs. Some kids who
talked have turned up later with
marks Of severe beatings, object
lessons to others who might be
tempted.
But most of them clam up be-
cause they are afraid of shutting
off their own supplies Of the stuff. "
an official explained. mo dope. of
course. is what an addict fears
more than jail or beatings."
United States Customs officials
have found smuggled opium de-
rivatives aboard ships coming from
almost every foreign land. They
have found packages of the Junk
in cracker and -four barrels In
ships kitchens, in cans wired
carefully in the center of oil-f filled
barrels. They have found 1t con-
cealed on seamen and passengers
Only recently they recovered
heroin valued at more than 81
million retail in a city garbage
dump.
The tremendous profits to thu
syndicates Is evident from report.
OF Federal seizures valued at re.
tail in the millions. One officia
said recently that a quantity ol
legal morphine worth SIS coulc
be sold highly diluted for $4,000
to drug addicts.
Once a drug has been smugglec
successfully. the process of cuttine
starts.a Wholesalers ship it te
larger cities where there are loca
wholesalers. These parcel 1t ou,
to syndicate retailers. From thai
point it fans out like q chain letter
to smaller dealers, down to tn,
peddlers and pushers-many ol
them addicts who sell the capsules
to maintain their habit. At each
point the Junk" is further diluted
with milk sugar or plaster of paris
When it reaches the average teen.
age addict. who must pay $1.5t
up for each capsule, there i
roughly as much pure heroin o.
morphine as would cling to {
paper match dipped in the stuff
Penalties Light
Police have nabbed severa
teen-age addicts who have usee
as many as 20 capsules daily
Youngsters have told of stealins
to pay $40 or more daily for drugs
A major enforcement hitch /.
that narcotics laws carry ligh
penalties. Another is that tn,
brains" or top men in the syn.
dicate rarely are anywhere neal
their product.
Under normal circumstances
police are not too interested IL
picking up the peddlers infestins
street corners. The traditiona
effort is to pinch off the mair
arteries of the traffic.
How does a boy or girl star
taking drugs?
Some officials believe tina
modern tensions" insecurity,
broken homes" and 1.-The usua
moral let-down following war
are among the causes of the in.
creased addiction.
Others see nothing more than s
teen-age fad. taken up with thu
sheeplike enthusiasm boys ane
girls also reserve for q new SLAMS
phrase, a haircut or q clothins
style.
But If a fad, it's one of extreme