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The New York Times April 18, 1950
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NARCOTICS ADDICTS ON INCREASE IN CITY
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A steadily rising rate in narcotics in metropolitan New York was reported yesterday by Dr. Lester C. Spier, chairman of the narcotic committee of the New York County Medical society.
Dr. Spier said he was "sick and tired" of hearing the medical profession blamed for failing to stop the increased use of narcotics and put the blame instead on undermanned law enforcement groups, particularly the Police Department.
"We not only forsaw this increase, but did our best to warn city officials about
it," he said., recalling that he had met with Deputy Mayor John Bennett in 1946 to
inform the Mayor's office that addiction would rise in the postwar years.
Dr. Spier said he and his associates were "brushed off" by the Mayor and had not
heard from City Hall yet.
The latest figures show that addiction in this area increased "roughly 36 per cent" above the rate for 1941-1946, he said. Previously, Garland H. Williams, district supervisor of the Federal narcotics Bureau, had reported a "substantial rise." Police figures show a 10 per cent increase in addiction, most of it among teenagers in the Bronx.
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