The Drug Scene

◆ Teen-age heroin use has gone wild among white and black, rich and poor, in the suburbs as well as in the city, among girls as well as boys. In 1960, fifteen teen-agers died of drug abuse in New York city. In 1969, the toll soared to 224 teen-agers, which is an increase of about 1,500 percent! By the third week of March 1970, drugs had already killed 58 teen-agers​—192 of all ages—​in New York city. Today, drugs are the principal cause of death in the 14-35 age-group. Not all were addicts. Many were children having their first experience with drugs. It has been estimated that by this summer there will be 100,000 young heroin users in New York city alone. It is said that each addict influences three or four others. Do you realize what this can mean in two or three years? If you love your child, inform him of what is happening on the drug scene. It may be a grief saver​—and a lifesaver.

Legal Heroin Unworkable

◆ The British for some time have practiced giving legal heroin to addicts as a way of bringing drug addiction under control. They are now giving up the idea, at least, in its present form, because it simply has not worked. Dr. Peter Chapple, authority on addiction, stated that the British system is “in total disarray.” According to a published report, “only 94 heroin addicts were known to the [British] Government 10 years ago. But between 1960 and 1967, the number of recorded new addicts doubled every 16 months.” Some people in the United States had suggested copying the British system as a means of drug control. Yet now this system, which is not a system at all, but a series of social and medical responses to increasing drug abuse, is described by British authorities as totally inadequate, groping and confused.