in spite of
ourselves, that thousands of them exist and that new ones are being
created daily. The question arises, how do they obtain the drug? It was
the fortune of the writer to be present during the first week of the
opening of the Health Department Clinic for Drug Addicts, and her work
consisted in taking the histories of these pitiful, abject wrecks of
men and women who swarmed to the clinic in hundreds, seeking supplies
of the drug which they could not obtain elsewhere. The history of these
patients was almost invariably the same--there was a monotony in their
tragic, pathetic recital as to how they became victims, how they first
became acquainted with the drug. As a rule, they began in extreme
youth, generally between fifteen and twenty years of age, one boy
having begun at the age of thirteen. In nearly every case they had
tried it as a lark, as an experiment. At "parties," they said, when
some one of the company would pass round a box full of heroin, inviting
them to snuff it. To snuff it, these children, very much as a small boy
goes behind the barn to try his first cigarette. In many instances
those who produced the box were peddlers, offering it as a gift at
first, knowing that after a dose or two the fatal habit would be formed
and another customer created. These peddlers doubtless obtained their
supplies from smugglers. But that takes us back to our argument,
namely, the part played by that great nation which grows and
distributes opium to the world. For that nation produces an over-supply
of opium, far more than is needed by the medical profession for the
relief of pain. Opium is not profitable in its legitimate use. It is
only profitable because of the demands of addicts, men and women
deliberately debauched, either through the legalized machinery of
colonial governments, or through the illegal activities of smugglers. A
moral sentiment that will balk at this immense over-production, the
sole object of which is to create drug victims, is the only weapon to
fight it. In giving this book to the public, we are calling upon that
moral sentiment. We feel that we shall number among our staunchest
supporters that great body of men and women in England who have for
years been vainly fighting the opium traffic. No more bitter opponents
of this policy are to be found than amongst the English people
themselves. From time to time, in Parliament, sharp debates have arisen
as to the advisability of continuing it, and