DODGES TO OBTAIN "DOPE."

Shannon News, 13 February 1925, Page 4

DODGES TO OBTAIN "DOPE."

GENEVA CONFERENCE THE ONE HOPE. (By Vincent Wray.) (All Rights Reserved.) 1 have followed with considerable and pained interest the inquest on the Llanelly woman, who, according to the verdict of the jury, died "by misadventure of an overdose or medicine containing strychnine associated with the low physical condition of the de. ceased due to morphine."

Nobody was to blame except the helpless victim herself, who had used a doctor's prescription, and who had been warned by the chemist who supplied the mixtures of the danger involved in taking more than the regulated dose. The fact is that Mrs. Rees was in the grip of the drug fiend, and felt insatiable craving which she was powerless to overcome. Many cases of a similar character, though all of them did not end with such sudden tragedy, have come under ) my notice. Once the craving after drugs is conceived, men and women find themselves in a grip of iron. They | cannot resist the temptation. They I are unable to fight the insidious roe. Physical force is reduced to a minlj mum; the faculties are impaired; and I moral character rapidly deteriorates. A chemist of my acquaintance tells me of the "dodges'* used by victims of the drug habit to obtain their favour, ite specific. Less than a week ago » woman, wild-eyed and emaciated, entered his pharmacy, and presented a prescription for medicine, which contained an abnormal quantity of morphia. The prescription seemed to be in order. The address of a London medical man was printed as a head, line. There were initials which purported to be those of the doctor himself. | "I was suspicious," said the chemist, "and asked my customer to wait a while, so that I could prepare the medicine. I telephoned to the doctor, and, though it vnus a trunk call, it was no* long before I was speaking to the doctor himself. He told me that he had never given such a prescription, and requested me to hand the customer over to the police. "When I reentered the pharmacy the woman had vanished. I was not sorry, because I did not want to have the worry and anxiety of 'a case in the courts.' I telephoned to another chemist friend of mine. He thanked me later, because the woman had appealed to him. He told her frankly what had happened, and she left hurriedly, nor she was she seen in the town again.

"If the doctor had given the prescription I should, of course, have dispensed it; but in no instance should I supply such medicine without making certain that the quantity stated was correct. Even when I am peisonally acquainted with medical men, I invariably repeat extraordinary prescriptions over the telephone, to make sure that there has been no mistake." How the woman I have referred to obtained the doctor's notepaper, or how she learned the "jargon" used m the profession, I cannot say. She was evidently an addict to the morphine habit, and would go .to any length to satisfy her cravings. When I was in Victoria (British Columbia), I met a music-hall "star" who hailed from the United States. He was a brilliant performer, but, as he admitted to me, he could not do his work unless, and until, he had taken "snow," which he used as the snuff-taker does his pinch. He had a man servant, who was also addicted to the habit, and who was generally able to procure sucn cocaine as he needed. The servant fell ill, and was removed to a hospital. The "star" was at his wits end. He was due to appear at a matinee that afternoon, and he wandered around like a man distraught. Just at the time when the performance was to open, a policeman came up, and asked me to take him to the manager. "We have got one of your stars inside," said the officer, and went on to give the name of the dope victim. "What is the charge?" inquired the man in alarm. "Forgery." The word was snapped out with the speed of a bullet from the mouth of an automatic pistol. The explanation was soon forthcoming. The artiste called at a doctors surgery, and managed to secret some of his notepaper. Then he made out a prescription, and signed it with the medical man's name. The druggist whom he called saw at once that something was wrong. The signature was not quite that to which he had

been accustomed. The amount of co. caine would almost have depleted ~xi\s stock.

He telephoned the doctor, who happened to be home and he then gave information to the police. In the circumstances, the police decided not to prosecute, stipulating that the "star" should return to the States the nexi morning. But the wretched man was unable to appear on the stage, and had almost to be carried to the vessel by which he sailed to Seattle. He was like a raving lunatic, and was sent back to New York, where I lost sight of him.

I know a case in which a man broke into a chemist's shop. He was seeking cocaine, and was discovered by * policeman on patrol. He had financi. ally no need to turn burglar. And there was no doubt but that, unable to obtain the drug which he cravea for, he had become a common thler. He was prosecuted, and was sent to gaol, the magistrate holding that a little while in prison would cure his passion for the drug which was detroying him body and soul.

A friend of mine, who was for many years at St. George's Hospital, tells m e one of the strangest cases that ever came under my notice. A woman was found unconscious in Hyde Park. She was taken to the hospital, where it was found that she had injected morphia to such an extent that there was scarcely a spot available for another injection, which was considered necesary. She had kept a diary, which was found-Jn her possession, and there gave details of most of the injections she had herself made. The victim was a woman of culture. She was connected with society people who eventually gave her up as a hopeless case. They had done their utmost, and had sent her to a nursing home. But she insisted upon leaving and they had no means of keeping her compulsorily. Her private income haa gone. In the madness induced by the dope, she had fallen in with scoun. 1 drels of both sexes, who had fawnea I on her, and helped her to obtain the drug. She did not long survive her admission to the hospital. A woman, to whom I was speaking the other day in Chelsea, pointed out two houses, which stood side by side. "There used to be two young girls, one in each house," she said, "they were both pretty and interesting, thoug/i inclined to be what is known as 'flighty.' I knew them well, and was amazed when I discovered that they were often out with Orientals.

"I spoke to their parents, who forebade them to see the men any more. But they did so dn secret. They began to deteriorate in looks. The roses faded from their cheeks. Their eyes began to gleam with an unnatural brightness. There were times when they, once full of the joy of life, appeared to be on the point of exhaus. tlon. "Mark the end of them! One disappeared, and was never seen again. Whether she disappeared into the underworld, went abroad or found refuge in the river, none knows. But we did find out that she had become addicted to the use of drugs. The other girl went raving mad, and is to-day in a home for mental cases." My informant told me that there were other instances of a similar char*. aeter in the same neighbourhood—and this notwithstanding the Dangerous Drug Act and the vigilance of special police, who are commissioned to trace thos e wll ° tleal in these terrible ar. tides. Much has been done, though the opinion expressed to me by an Eust End magistrate, that the traffic has almost vanished from Limehouse and other districts there, is scarcely justified. I discovered this when I was tracing out the career of a Chinaman for whom an order for deportation had been made.

He was arrested for returning to this country without obtaining a permit. He had left England voluntarily, but there is no doubt he had aorie so with the intention of resuming a trade for wheih he had twice been convicted. This rascal was married to an English woman, who had become the mother of several wretched halfcaste children. He had run gaming dens, and dealt in opium. Once he was caught at Grays with a considerable quantity in his possession. He had been one of the kings of the opium business, and cared not one jot concerning the fate of his hopeless; victims. When the police captured that prince of reprobates, Brilliant Chang, and secured him a long sentence of imprisonment and an order for his repatriation, they hoped that they had struck a fatal blow at the traffic that lives on the unhealthy cravings of dope finds. They had accomplished a great deal, but there are still in existence agents of wealthy men, who are ready to supply the needs of people for whom only indulgence makes life worth the living. The traders have all manners of tricks by which they are able to bring the stuff over here. In the hollow heels of boots in craftily.concealed inner pockets, in French dolls which are apparently nothing but playthings for innocent children. In these ana a hundred other subtle ways they bring the terrible drugs to this country.

I am glad that the Geneva Conference has decided on taking more drastic steps, in which all the civilised countries are to join, to limit the production of dope of every kind to the needs of medicine and science. Thus only will the drug fiend be finally and definitely destroyed. HAY FEVER. This distressing malady is readily dispelled by the systematic use of Fluenzol. Sniff up from the palm 01 the hand about half a teaspoonful or vi-arj n Fluenzol several times' daily.*