DEATH BY A DRUG

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3938, 4 May 1929, Page 2

DEATH BY A DRUG

"OVERDOSE OF COCAINE. An inquest was held at Otaki yesterday morning, Iby the District Coroner, l\rr. T. Brown, concerning the death ol' Alfred Charles Weisman (Charles Treloar), aged 28, lately employed on relief road work at ißikiorangi, who was found dead in bed at the Family Hotel, Otaki, on Thursday morning, with drugs beside him. 'The verdict was that death was due 'to an over-dose of cocaine. Dr. D. S. Milne, in his evidence, stated flint the deceased came to his surgery on March 9th and asked for a prescription for cocaine. Deceased said lie was an American and had been taking cocaine for some seventeen years. He also said lie was working on the road near Waikanae and hoped to go to Australia very soon; lie showed a letter froin a shipping company addressed to (Charles Treloar, with reference to a birth. I nAccordance with the provisions under the Dangerous Drugs Act, the doctor furnished the deceased with a prescription for cocaine, to he repeated on April 8. Deceased returned on March 24th and said that the quantity prescribed was not as mitch as he was in the habit of taking, and requested a fresh prescription; he said that, with long experience, he knew exactly how much to take. Witness gave him a .further prescription, to be repeated on April 7th. On April 19th the man returned and said that he had decided not to go to Australia un--Iti! he had bought and paid for a new outfit. Ait his request, .the doctor gave him another prescription for cocaine, to he repeated on May Ist and 15 th. Deceased stated that, from a se'eret source, lie was procuring by post supplies of morphia. In witness’s opinion, death was due to an overdose of cocaine. The doctor added that when the regulations were first circulated, lie wrote to the Health Department to ask whether, in their opinion, them were any restrictions im'posed upon the amount of drugs supplied and the time limit of supply. He under - stood from their reply that if lie considered the drug necessary, as long ns lie complied with the form of the prescriptions required by the regulations, lie would have' discharged hfs obligation. He considered that, as the deceased was a drug addict of such long-standing, it would be 'better to supply him with the drug in compliance with the regulations so that lie could carry on bis daily work, rather than withhold the drug, thus placing him in a position where it would he necessary to remand, him for institutional treatment and thus become a charge upon the State. George 11. Hanson, chemist, gave evidence that deceased sought to buy cocain? from him on March 9th, but witness said lie could not supply him and advised him, if lie was an addict, to see a doctor. Subsequently witness filled the prescriptions made out by Dr. Milne. After evidence had been given by the hotelkeeper, Joseph Roper, and housemaid, Edith Morrison, Constable Satherley detailed his investigations, froim which it appeared that the deceased was Alfred Charles Welsinaii, that lie had come from .America, and had gone under the name of Charles Treloar.