DRUG ADDICT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5046, 1 November 1926, Page 1

DRUG ADDICT.

TWO ESCAPES FROM ISLAND. HIS PATHETIC STORY. A pathetic story of the .terrible ef'fqcts of drugs told to detectives in Sydney 'recently by a victim of heroin, one of the deadliest of “dopes.’ The ma,n, who is practically penniless; and bitoken in heatlh and spirit, has twice escaped from a hbme where he was confined on an island in the Hauraki Gul'f, New Zealand. Once, to obtain the insidious drug fc- r tvliicli hq craved, he stole a fr,ail little sailing boat, and sailed 22 miles to Auckland. It was a perilous voyage, and the extraordinary part of it was that lie had no experience of sailing, and, in fact, had never been in ,a sailing boat in his life.

He was taken back to the island, but again succeeded in escaping, and reached Auckland, whence he went on to Sydney. He was found wandering about the city, and his strange appearance and behaviour resulted in his being taken to the Detective Office,, where he was interviewed by Detective-sergeant Wick ham and Effective S. Thompson, who handle drug casgs.

He presented a pathetic picture at the Detective Office. Apparently halfdazed, he sat with his head lying on a table,, and now and then lie would groan, and move restlessly, like a man in a nightmare.

The detectives were told a tragic tale of the man’s' suffering, caused through heroin. Years ago the drug victim was a prominent chemist in Auckland, where he had a fine business. But once, when sick, he took to drugs, and, though he tried desperately to overcome the craving, his power df resistance was gradually weakened, and in a few yeaifs he had become a, “dope fiend.”

In the end he lost his business and became almost destitute. So bad 'was his condition that he had to be taken to Roto-Roa, a small island outside of Auckland on which is a home for inebriates and those unfortunates addicted to various drugs. How he succeeded in twice es’caping from the island is remarkable, for the inmates of .the home are closely watched, and it is extre.mely difficult to leave the place. What grip the drug had over him can be judged by the 'fa'ct that he essayed the perilous voyage; in the little boat