DRUG FIEND

NZ Truth, Issue 1208, 24 January 1929, Page 9

DRUG FIEND

■'■:•• .■■■'"— — '.'♦., ■ .•■'. • ' " Digger '• Wants Saving From Himself THEFT (From "N.Z. Truth's" Christchurch .: Rep.) A young returned soldier stood m the dock at the Christchurch Police Court and pleaded to be sent to Rotbroa Island. In the confinement of an island home he hoped to find relief, from the menace of . self-administered drugs, the_ craving for which has been winding its tentacles about him until at last he is fast approaching that stage - where he might be beyond the pale of human aid. . ■ TWICE he has sought the shelter oi 1 mental hospitals as $ voluntary patient, only to be discharged, with a first-class clearance when the vile influence of the drugs was removed from his system. , ; . The man is, Duncan Barclay Mercer of 34 Albert Street, Dunedin, and his craving for drugs was cultivated during his service with the New Zealand Forces when he was ordered a regular medicinal prescription for a war ailment. About a fortnight ago he was discharged from the Sunny side Mental Hospital after seven months' treatment and Immediately fell into his old evil ways. ' , The day following his discharge he was arrested for stealing an' overcoat from a display stand outside the shop of Plimsolls, men's outfitters, on* the corner of Manchester and St. Asapii Streets. ..-...-, Mercer was m such a state of illhealth when ho appeared m court that he was remandled for a week. On his second appeai'ance^ Sub-inspector J. Fitzpatrlck expressed the opinion that the, accused, having made a good recovery, might still be within the scope of medical treatment were he put away where it would be Impossible for him to satisfy his "craving: He was charged on two counts with theft of overcoataf'one from Plimaoll's and the other from a man named Dug:gan.- ..•■',' ■■..-•_ On the day following the theft from Pnmsoll'B, he visited the People's Palace m Manchester Street, and removed a coat from the hall without permission. He gave the coat to a man who had lent him 'money. ' Mercer pleaded guilty, to lioth charges. He told the magistrate that he had been taking drugs for some years, and his admission to a mental hospital two years ago had been for the same trouble. When it was suggested that he should either go back into a mental hospital as a voluntary patient, or go to. the island, Mercer pleaded to be put on the island. \ The magistrate remanded him for a week so that inquiries could be made about him m Dunedin. ■