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The New York Times April 30, 1952
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NARCOTICS COUNT IN SCHOOLS DROPS
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Dr. Jansen Reports Only 30 Known Cases, Compared With 154 Listed a Year Ago
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A recent count among the 300,000 students in the city's high schools showed only thirty identified users of narcotics, compared with 154 known cases a year ago, Dr. William Jansen, Superintendent of Schools, reported yesterday. The new count, however, listed 114 "suspected" cases since September, compared with thirty-five "suspected" users previously.

Calling the situation "very encouraging," Dr. Jansen laid the decrease to classroom instruction on the dangers of narcotics and to police work against illegal sellers.

Dr. Jansen said the thirty cases were the only ones found in a survey by Dr. Frank J. O'Brien, associate superintendent in charge of child welfare. A similar survey a year ago led to a controversy with State Attorney General Nathaniel L. Goldstein insisting that the figures represented only a small fraction of the users of narcotics in the schools.

Dr. Jansen conceded at a public hearing on addiction last June that there might be as many as 1,500 "hidden" cases in the high schools. He and Dr. O'Brien declined yesterday to estimate "hidden" cases now.

All but one of the thirty identified cases of narcotics use by students were found in two areas of the city. A check of municipal records showed them to be Harlem and the lower part of the East Bronx.

Among the known cases, twenty-one were brought to light by school staffs and students. Of the other nine cases, four were brought to school authorities by parents and one by a private physician. Four cases were exposed by the police and courts.

Of 114 "suspected" cases, fifty-five were in manhattan schools, thirty-five in the Bronx, seventeen in Brooklyn and seven in Queens. Thirteen of the "suspected" users were pupils in elementary schools. Four of the known cases and forty-seven of the "suspected" ones were girls.

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