Why 2,000,000 Americans Are Dope Fiends


DR. WM. I. SIROVICH, a leading authority, tells here the amazing facts about the illegal dope traffic, which in recent years has assumed the proportions of a national peril. He is a member of Congress and a physician, and is leading the fight for an international agreement to stem the blighting tide of habit-forming narcotics that pours into this country from abroad.
By JOHN E. LODGE
IN THE United States, one out of every sixty persons is a drug addict. During the decade from 1920 to 1930, the number of narcotic victims in America has doubled, tripled, quadrupled. One ton a year of crude opium and its derivatives would meet the legitimate medicinal and scientific needs of the nation. Yet, last year, approximately 200 tons were smuggled into America. The amount of morphine consumed is thirty-five times that required; and, with a smaller population than that of Germany, France, and Italy combined, we import ten times as much crude opium as these three nations together.