VICIOUS DRUG TRAFFIC

Evening Star, Issue 20137, 30 March 1929, Page 11

VICIOUS DRUG TRAFFIC

OPERATIONS IN SYDNEY “ MANY HUNDREDS OF ADDICTS !| Recent events in Sydney Dave shown that there is a mistaken behet that cocaine, though a harmful drug s nficult to procure, and that its pouci for harm is therefore limited, it has been shown that those who know tne ropes” can buy the drug as easily as they can buy tea or sugar, but not so d Th 1 c police say that Sydney has many hundreds of drug addicts It would seem that the only tune they have to (ro without their poison is when they Rave not got sufficient money to purchase it. Cocaine, move commonly known in the underworld as snow or “ angle.” is expensive, but it is doubtful whether this restricts its use. Even at the fantastic prices charged by the illegal traffickers those addicted to the use of cocaine seem to be able to buy all that they require, and it is probable that they have to go without the luxuries and even the necessities or life in order to get it. . Of course, there are big men iii the business the mastei minds—but they arc dun and shadowy figures, always in the background, and verv few of these have been brought to justice by the police. These men are not known to the consumers ot tlie drug, for the drug is sold by a small army of retailers who have no nxed place of business. Some of them meet their customers in the street, and the little packet changes hands so quickly that no stranger notices the action. Certain areas in Sydney’s famous flat headquarters, Darlinghurst, and in some of the dingy regions near the Central railway station are recognised trading grounds Some traders have regular customers, and call at tne homes with the supplies. Being Jawbreakers by habit, the drug sellers are not even honest with their own victims. Cocaine in powder form is easily adulterated, and the greater part of the small quantity sold for 5s is boracic acid. But there is always enough of the real stuff to do a great deal ot

iharm. . , ~ ~ Constant consumption of snow, either by swallowing or injection, destroys the sense of moral responsibility, as well as the health of the addict, and these are not the only evil results. Even a single dose begets a reckless disregard of danger, and it is through this that the non-addict is likely to suffer ior the vice of the addict. The police say that a great number of women are drug addicts, and that many girls of seventeen to eighteen years can be placed in the . ’same category. | A large percentage of the gunmen ; and razor slashers and the members of the various criminal gangs are said to be drug addicts. These arc some of the reasons for the decision of the police to double their efforts to hound down those who are responsible for a contiuance of this vicious trade. J|