DRUG FIENDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1926, Page 1

DRUG FIENDS.

NEW POLICE BUREAU AT AYOIUv. 'SYDNEY, April 1. Recent activities of the Drug Bureau, a branch of tho Police Department, established by tho Now South Wales Police Commissioner to watch tlie drug traffic and co-ordinate information regarding traders and addicts, show that an oiiermous number of men and women are taking drugs in Sydney. One case is on record where a young woman, craving for more cocaine, which, in tho main, is sniffed through the nose by. the addict, took a quantity of tho" snuff and later found that the membranes at the back of her nose and throat had been lacerated. A medical man discovered that the cocaine had been mixed with gfouud glass or some equally gritty substance. and this had done irretrievable harm to her nose and throat. This week the premises of Burroughs, AYelcome and Company, druggists, were broken into, and some hundreds of pounds’ worth ol cocaine, morphine, ami opium tablets were stolen, as well as a number ol syringes. This robbery is believed to have been the work of. the “dope” ling in Sydney. Detectives arrested two men in the city on AYediiesday night, and found in their possession a bag lull ol drugs, believed to have been stolen from a country chemist, whose place aas mu* sacked a lew days ago. they ueio charged with having stolen the goods in their custody. Simultaneous raids on oilier places in the city this week resulted in two other arrests. At one place the detectives tound a young woman under the influence of drugs, recovered a quantity ol cocaine in her possession, and iomiil a revolvei in her handbag. She was charged in connection with the unlicensed revolver, for there is no charge to cover the possession of the cocaine, which ! tvas confiscated by the police. At another house they arrested a man, also drug-ridden, who liad stolen property in his room, and another loaded revolver. He, too, was charged, and hidden under his mattress the police found opium tablets. The Government is being moved to immediately tighten the laws relating to the possession of unlicensed drugs, so that the work of the bureau may not be hampered.—Auckland “Star’s” Sydney correspondent.