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DRCNet Library | Schaffer Library | Historical Research
The New York Times January 3, 1927
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DRUG ADDICTS INCREASE
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Prosecutor Says Statistics Prove Hague Remedies Have Failed.
Figures gathered by officials engaged in enforcing the law against the sale of narcotics show a great increase in the number of violations between 1916 and 1925 inclusive. The increase is partly due, it is asserted, to an insufficient number of narcotic officers.
Between 1916 and 1925 there were 46,398 violations, 24,348 cases against addicts and dealers were tried and there were 22,537 convictions.
David P. Siegel, head of the Criminal Bureau of the United States Attorney Buckner's office, said yesterday the stern measures adopted at The Hague conference in 1912 and more recent efforts had proved unsuccessful in the light of the report of officials here. The report says that on June 20, 1925, there were 308,609 registrants under the Harrison act, and that this number included importers and manufacturers, 339; wholesale dealers, 1959; retail dealers, 48,187; practitioners, 144,711, and dealers and manufacturers of untaxed narcotic preparations, 113,413.
Mr. Siegel said that recent disclosures illustrated the ease with which large shipments of narcotics could be brought clandestinely into this country. The latest method, he said, was for the smugglers to send narcotics within our borders under the guise of some innocent appearing shipment , alleged to have been brought here for transshipment to some foreign country. He said:
"While these goods are in transit, other goods in cases similarly marked, of approximate weights and measurements, are substituted therefor. The dope is diverted and sold in underworld channels while the innocent shipment goes to China, Japan, or some far-off country, where the goods remain in a bonded warehouse for a year of [sic] two and then are sold at public auction.
"Some means must now be devised for a more rigid supervision of shipments for re-export so that such practices may be promptly detected and punished. A ray of hope is narcosan [sic]. It may prove to be a failure. It should receive a chance."
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