386 Our Surroundings 



bureau of criminal identification at nearly 200,000, practically 

 all of them below the age of 30, constituting nearly 60 per cent 

 of the inmates of correctional institutions of that city. 



"The heroin addict, at a certain stage of the drug effect, con- 

 siders himself a hero and seeks heroics; not long afterwards, 

 unless he can get more of the drug, he suffers from cramps, 

 diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and extreme depression. 



"Scientific men, in view of the hopelessness of permanent 

 cures, call drug addicts 'the living dead' and estimate that there 

 are already so many addicts in this country that if placed in single 

 file the line would extend from Boston, Mass., to Los Angeles, 

 Calif. 



"The alarming increase in drug addiction is due chiefly to the 

 fact that the heroin addict has a mania for recruiting others and 

 soon builds up a 'snow gang/ the drug being supplied him to give 

 away free to the boys until they are 'hooked/ Soon the older 

 members of the gang go forth and build up similar gangs. For- 

 merly the expansion of drug addiction from opium, morphine, 

 and cocaine was comparatively slow by process of addition; 

 now the increase is galloping through a process of multipli- 

 cation. 



"The health commissioner of a great city of the Middle West, 

 investigating the cause of the rising tide of crime, reported that 

 girls and boys are appearing in the underworld by the thousands 

 at very tender ages 14, 15, 16, 17 practically all of the girls 

 and most of the boys having come by the swift drug road." 



Cocaine. Cocaine is made from the dried leaves of a plant 

 called coca that thrives in South America. It is used largely as a 

 relief for local pain. If absorbed into the blood, it affects the cells 

 of the nervous system and deadens the sense of feeling. Used at 

 first to relieve pain, when no longer needed for that purpose it is 

 taken because it produces a soothing feeling. The habit, once 

 formed, is difficult to overcome and, if persisted in, results in 

 deterioration of the physical and mental powers. Usually it is 

 taken by snuffing the powder. Some catarrh snuffs are said to con- 

 tain it. These should be avoided since their use might lead to 

 the formation of a habit. 



