fy PES oN. ; if 7 ¥ %. he yf FRAPS § ; Pinas td 4 CLL ~ oh fe oe rie oe * - Meg ; STATE OF NEW YORK | STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS Special Report on DRUG ADDICTION | | DEGEMBER 2, 1924 os, 4 ee a) as } ae &* apt ow d/ Sot | Chetytie a ig Bdge. ff LPew pobeay ol ‘ Y 5 es ” CMM EAAtham bt fbreree & aveek Fae Z y n DRUG ADDICTION REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 1924 ee. eee PATS ae Sith J 5 ak BE a . DRUG ADDICTION Report of Special Committee of the State Commission of Prisons TO THE STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS: At a meeting of the State Commission of Prisons held June 8, 1924, the undersigned were appointed a committee to study and investigate drug addiction, and report. After investigating conditions in penal and cor- rectional institutions, interviewing a large number of drug addicts in these institutions, conferring with medical and lay experts, and examining the proceedings of legislative hearings, and State laws and proposed laws, we respectfully report: I DRUG ADDICTION—ITS NATURE AND TREATMENT THE DRUGS Addiction to narcotic drugs is world-wide. It tends, in many instan- es, to destroy its victims physically, morally and spiritually. It wrecks men and women, homes and families, and leaves in its trail poverty, crime and death. Such an appalling condition demands public regulation and correction. The term “Narcotic Drugs” is generally applied to opium and cocaine and their derivatives. Experts, however, limit Narcotic Drugs to opium and its derivatives. The derivatives of opium, most dangerous in ad- diction are morphine, heroin and codeine... Opium, in prepared state, is generally smoked or eaten. 4 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE Morphine is an alkaloid “t opium, taken generally in powders or by in- jection or snuffed. Heroin is a synthetic sender of morphine—morphine-diacetylate ae is generally taken a*% a powder or by injection or snuffed. Codeine is an alkaloid of opium, used generally in medicine: and rarely by addicts. Opium is the coagulated juice of the poppy plant and is cultivated in Bast India, China, Persia and Asiatic Turkey. Cocaine is an alkaloid derived from cocoa leaves, produced princi- pally in Peru, Bolivia and the Island of Java. It is taken as a powder or by injection or snuffed. Hashish, otherwise Cannabis Indica or Cannabis: Sativa, is made from _ the juice or resin of the East Indian variety of common hemp. Cocaine and Hashish are not strictly classified with opium and its derivatives as habit-forming drugs. They do not create similar patholog- ical conditions in the body, and as an addiction are relatively easy to overcome. Except when differentiated, opiate drug addiction is referred to in this report. THE ADDICT Drug addicts belong to no distinct class or station in life; they are numbered among the socially highest and lowest; many of them are in the professions and prominent in business and financial affairs, A large proportion of them come from or fall into the underworld. Addiction is acquired gradually, sometimes accidentally, often thought- lessly and most often through curiosity or ignorance or indifference. . The accidental addict is the product of its administration or pre- scription for disease or surgical operations. Given to relieve pain over a period, it seizes the unfortunate in its inexorable grip. Men and women tamper with drugs to “quiet the nerves”, or stimulate themselves for hard work or social functions, and find themselves enslaved. At one time, patent: medicines’ containing opium were frequent cause of addiction. Thoughtless youths “sowing their wild oats” become addicted before they realize the consequence of their acts. Men or women entering upon or leading a life of vice and dissipation resort to drugs in search of new sensations or to assuage ae or _in ‘recovering from the effects of alcoholic excesses, Bad companionship is a frequent cause. Most of the addicts inter- viewed said that they learned to take the drugs from companions and friends. Girls are deliberately enticed into addiction so they can be immorally exploited. Husbands and wives addict each other. Drug sellers and peddlers persuade persons to take the drug to increase the traffic. The claim so often heard—that drug addiction springs from vicious- ness and decadence—is not sustained by the facts. Addicts who have the money to secure it, take the drug for many years without disclosing ex- ternal signs, either physically or by conduct or character. The degree to which addiction deteriorates the moral character when the drug is obtainable is uncertain. Secret indulgence and deceit must have a deteriorating effect. When the drug is not obtainable or the addict has no money to buy it, he loses his ethical sense. The craving for it obliterates moral restraints and obligations. It is useless to make an estimate of the percentage of addicts in respectable life as compared to the underworld. So much concealment exists that accurate records are not obtainable. The only definite records are those who come into criminal courts and publie hospitals. STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 5. Likewise, any estimate of the total number of addicts is largely guess work. Estimates made by investigating bodies and experts range from 1,000,000 in the country (report of special committee appointed by Sec- retary of Treasury March 25, 1918) to 150,000 (estimate of Kolb and Dumetz) and from 100,000 (estimate of Whitney report 1917) in the State to 39,000 (State Department of Narcotic Drug control 1920). The addict invariably says that he receives no pleasure from the drug except some stimulation in the beginning. “He has got to take it”; “he takes it to keep normal”; “he prays to break from it but cannot”. The increasing dosage and cost of the drug consume his earnings. He takes the money from his family and his food. He works for his drug, and after excessive use, when he becomes too enfeebled or unstable to keep a position, he sinks into dependency or resorts to crime. DRUG ADDICTION A DISEASE What is this terrible scourge which ineapacitates and destroys ita victims? On the surface it appears to be a moral weakness in the addict. It is called a “vicious habit’, for which he is held responsible. He is branded as a “dope fiend” and a moral leper. Investigation and clinical research have revealed that drug addiction is a disease with definite symptoms and pathology. A report to the American Public Health Association 1919 over the signatures of such dis- tinguished experts as Dr. C. E. Terry, Dr. Oscar Dowling, Dr. Ernest 8. “A Narcotic Drug addict is an individual in whose body the continued administration of opiate drugs has established a physi- eal reaction or condition or mechanism or process which manifests itself in the production of definite and constant symptoms and signs and peculiar and characteristic phenomena appearing inevitably upon the deprivation or material lessening in the amount of the Narcotic drug and capable of immediate and complete control only by further administration of the drug of the patient’s addiction. In general, the symptoms, signs and phenomena consist of a sense of restlessness and depression fol- lowed by yawning, sneezing, excessive mucous secretion, sweating, nausea, uncontrollable vomiting and purging, twitching and jerking, internal cramps and pain, marked circulatory and cardiac inefficiency, irregularity of pulse going from extremes of slowness to extremes of rapidity, with loss of tone, face drawn and haggard, pallor deepening to grayness, exhaustion, collapse and, in some cases, death.” The introduction of the narcotic poison gradually forms in the body | an antidote or mechanism or process which tolerates its taking and in- | creases and neutralizes its effect. After the mechanism or process or antidote is formed, the withdrawal of the drug produces the intense agony and suffering described (Bishop’s “ The Narcotic Drug Problem” p. 42). The Whitney Committee appointed by the New York State Legislature, after a protracted investigation and careful study, unanimously reported to the legislature in a report dated March 1, 1918: “It has been conclusively established to our satisfaction that, drug addiction however established is not of itself a vice, but is rather a disease and one that afflicts not alone the low and crim- inal but afflicts honest intelligent people. in all walks of life.” # 4 Bishop and Lucius P. Brown, describes its symptoms as follows: we on bg CA. Pe a fe MIA tht, eee A Aghite bs. tet Le A @ Se, es A re Gat Se af- £ tg lit,- 6 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE Since drug addiction is a disease, it should be so treated. A duty ig imposed on the public, as expressed by the Whitney Committee: “It is the function of the State so far as it can be reasonably done to prevent the contraction and spread of the disease and furnish to the afflicted, within reasonable limits, such general public facilities as will aid in enabling them to obtain permanent relief.” The commitment of addicts not charged with crime to prisons or so- called correctional institutions is an extraordinary way of treating sick ‘persons. Carelessness, indifference, ignorance and misconduct ‘are respons- ible for 4 good deal of the tuberculosis and most of the venereal diseases. Few persons would have the temerity to advocate throwing them into prisons or correctional institutions when they come to the public solicit- 3 ing treatment in their misery. ITS TREATMENT Two methods of treatment for drug addiction are generally adopted in institutions known as the complete withdrawal, or “Cold Turkey”, and the gradual reduction methods, Addicts in the complete withdrawal method are entirely cut off from the drug and given supportive treatment, such as cathartics, bromides, strychnine and baths. In the gradual reduction method they receive each day, by injection or by mouth, a decreasing amount of the drug over a\ period of from five to seven days and also supportive treatment, During the process of withdrawal, unless most addicts of the delin- qnent class are under custody or restraint they cannot be trusted to cooperate and will leave the institution or surreptitiously secure the drug. When free from the drug for several weeks they begin to improve rapidly and after a varying period appear normal, gaining health and flesh. When in this condition they invariably assert that they are cured and will never return to the drug. Unfortunately, as soon as they become Hens nearly all of them, sooner or later, become readdicted. Tinns peculiar feature of the disease showing that the mechanism or Sage Jeatidote in the body is arrested and not eradicated is, if the addict’s body ot A f ‘\\ again receives the drug after he is supposed to be cured, he must again \undergo withdrawal manifestations and suffering. : The return of the addicts to the drug discourages persons interested in their welfare. It creates the opinion that the opiate addict is hopeless and doomed. When an addict has been free from the drug for a long period and has shown every evidence of loss of desire, readdiction in view of his terrible experience is generally attributed to lack of will power, shiftlessness or mental inferiority. Some authorities claim that such cases have not been properly treated. Complete withdrawal treatment is not regarded as scientific or hu- mane by experts. If the physical conditions described are created in the . STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 7 body, it is reasonable that the system should be gradually adjusted to the withdrawal of the drug. The wrench and shock to the organism of sudden withdrawal, aside from the agony suffered, must be dangerous. Dr. George Bi. Petty, one of the greatest experts on the disease, in his book, “Narcotic Drug Disease and Allied Ailments” p, 41, says: “The abrupt withdrawal of an opiate from patients addicted to its use, without first preparing the patients’ systems for such withdrawal], is not only dangerous to life but barbarous.” oe ae just criticism of the medical departments of many institutions which use the gradual reduction method is in the en masse treatment of a large number of inmates. They are all given the same daily dosage. It is unreasonable that a person who has been taking over an-ounce a week should receive the same reduction as one who has been taking fifty, . grains a week. ag Patients under treatment for drug addiction should be given the in- dividual] diagnosis and treatment that patients afflicted with other diseases receive. Each case should be separately studied and the dosage and supportive treatment adapted to the individual’s symptoms and needs. When the addict leaves the hospital he is debilitated and physically unfit to perform his duties normally in the community. If he returns too soon he is likely to become readdicted in short order. He should spend a period in the open or be sent to a farm colony where he will be built up physically and be put in condition to do his work and to exercise a fait degree of self control. II PUBLIC EFFORTS FOR DRUG CONTROL AND SUPPRESSION NEW YORK STATE New York State has at present no law regulating the sale, use and distribution of narcotic drugs. The only procedure is under the Federal statutes and the Sanitary Code of New York City. The story of this predicament is one of conflicting interests, group agitation, contention, and confusion. Cocaine first received public attention. The penal law was amended in 1907 by a section creating prohibitions and regulations, and imposing penalties. After a number of amendments the substance of the law was incorporated in the second Whitney Act in 1918 and became part of Article 22 of the Public Health law repealed in 1921. The revelations of the extent and misery of drug addiction aroused public sentiment and brought about the enactment in 1914 of the Harrison law in the Nation and the Boylan in the State, which amended Article 11 of the Public Health law. The Boylan law, among other provisions, regulated the sale of opiate drugs, required doctors, dentists and veterinarians to give a signed pre- scription, and druggists or any sellers at retail to receive such prescriptions eo REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE before sale, regulated the purchases and sales of hypodermic syringes or needles, defined methods of keeping and filing prescriptions and records, forbade doctors to issue prescriptions except for disease, injury or deform- ity, directed that the names, ages and addresses of all persons treated or receiving prescriptions be kept on record for five years, prescribed an . official order blank to be furnished by the State Commissioner of Health, defined illegal possession ‘and provided for the treatment, of addicts in hospitals. Violations of any of the provisions of the law were made a misdemeanor. The administration of the law excited and frightened the doctors who assumed that they were forbidden to administer and prescribe narcotic df sf “ drugs to patients and stirred up a storm of protest in medical, pharma- ceutical and commercial drug circles. Doctors who had been treating addicts stopped and peddling of smuggled drugs increased. Addicts crowded into hospitals which were not equipped for their treatment. Nu- merous arrests were made and convictions in large numbers were secured. The protests, controversy and opposition led to the appointment of a legislative committee in 1916, known as the Whitney Committee, to study conditions and recommend legislation. This Committee took a good deal of testimony, held public hearings, and. made several enlightening reports. A law known as the first Whitney Act was enacted in 1917. The Whitney Act incorporated the principal provisions of the Boylan law, modified restrictions on doctors, dentists and veterinarians and per- mitted local boards of health to prescribe and dispense drugs free to addicts: ‘under regulations of the State Board of Health. ~ The succeeding year the law was amended by the second Whitney Act and a department of Narcotic Drug Control was created under a Com- missioner who was empowered to make regulations. Public clinics for the treatment of addicts were opened and abused, varying with the degree of intelligence with which they were administered. Doctors and druggists claimed that the regulations of the Commissioner were oppressive. The protests and agitation for new legislation and for the repeal of existing legislation continued... Many bills were introduced and stormy hearings held. The criticism of the Narcotic Drug Control administration, the vio-- lent dissension, the contradictory bills introduced, and the inability of the experts to agree, induced the legislature to pass the principal bills pending and refer them all to the Governor. The Governor in 1921 vetoed them all and also signed a repeal of the Whitney law, leaving the State without any regulatory legislation and’ without penalties for the sale, use and distribution ~ drugs except under the Federal] laws. . At the last session of the legislature the Kennedy-Weinfeld bill, pre- pared by a committee of the State Bar Association, received the endorse- ment of some public officials, some public and private organizations and individuals who have been active in efforts to secure the regulation ‘ed narcotic drugs. : ; ' STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 9 The bill as finally amended permitted doctors and veterinarians to pres- eribe, administer and dispense and dentists to administer and dispense in ‘good faith in the course of their professional practice only and placed the manufacture and sale and possesion of habit-forming drugs and hypodermic f syringes under definite restrictions and prohibitions, required the filing of a or records, and defined a procedure for the commitment to correctional and charitable institutions of persons voluntarily seeking treatment, and of per- #0ns charged with crime, and provided for the establishment of a State ‘Laboratory and Analyst of drugs under the State Commission of Health. ¥t did not establish control or regulation over the various institutions. Violation of any of its provisions was made a misdemeanor. The bill contained two objectionable provisions. The commitment to correctional institutions of addicts voluntarily seeking public treatment, “and their subjection throughout the State:to treatment and criminal con- tacts such as they receive in correctional institutions in New York City, is not a humane way of treating diseased persons who commit no crimes. The correctional institutions available are reformatories, ‘penitentiaries -.and workhouses in which the criminal associations and inadequate treat- ment will do infinitely more harm to the addicts than ‘any good accomplished by ‘their temporary removal from society. Misdemeanor does not impose severe enough penalty to attack and eee the illegal sale of habit- forming drugs. . Conditions in New York State are badly mixed and obscured by diver- gent views and selfish interests. There are five distinct groups in the open which it has been impossible to reconcile and unite on an effective law. Doctors, dentists and veterinarians want no unreasonable interference with their freedom of practice. Druggists, pharmacists and manufacturers | and commercial drug interests want no unreasonable restraint on traffic and gale. Police and prosecuting authorities insist that drug addiction is a pernicious vice which should be treated in prisons and suppressed by the criminal courts. Parties interested in private hospitals and sanitar- iums are reported prométing legislation which will drive addicts, who would otherwise seek amlulatory treatment from doctors, into hospitals. Finally, there is the social welfare group, including disinterested organi- zations who are trying-to secure sane and effective legislation. Sinister undeground and sécret forces are aid to be at work plotting to keep conditions as they are, or so confused that drug peddling and avd smuggling can thrive and large illicit gains he reaped‘by social jackals whe organize and supply the drug-peddling traffic. NEW YORK CITY When the State goverment failed to meet the necessities of the situa- tion and left the State, so far as the State law was concerned, at the mercy of the drug traffickers, the Commissioner of Health of New York City framed and promulgated on July 25, 1921, Article 8-A of the Sanitary Code. 10 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE Section 132 declares that the unauthorized possession, sale, distribu- tion, prescribing, administration or dispensation of cocaine, opium or any of their derivatives or Cannabis Indica or Sativa or their derivatives, is dangerous to the public health and a menace to public welfare. Section 133 prohibits the unauthorized possession, sale, distribution, administering, prescribing or dispensing of any of the drugs designated. Section 134 enumerates the authorized acts of trades and professions provided the requirements of the Harrison Act are fulfilled. Section 135 prohibits the unauthorized possession of hypodermic syr- inges or needles. Section 135 (a) specifies exemptions. Section 135 (b) defines the procedure for the commitment to hospitals or correctional institutions maintained by the City of addicts voluntarily seeking treat- ment or addicts charged with or convicted of crime. Section 185 (c} makes fraud and deceit a violation of the Article. Section 135 (d) makes violation of any of the provisions a misdemeanor. Addicts charged with the violation of any of the provisions of the Article are arraigned and disposed of in the Court of Special Sessions. _ Addicts seeking voluntary treatment are committed to institutions by the Magistrate’s Court. A narcotic Drug division was organized by the New York City Depart- ment of Police January 1, 1921, and placed under the direction of Dr. Carl- ton Simon, Deputy Commissioner of Police. The enforcement of the drug provisions of the Sanitary Code was delegated to this division and a corps of detectives was assigned to it. Dr. Simon has accumulated the largest coHection of finger prints, photographs and records of drug addicts in existence, and has prepared excellent case histories of the addicts. The following table is a statistical resume of the work of the depart- ment. A material reduction in the total number of cases reported should be made for ‘repeaters: 1921 Total arrests and commitments to correctional BSL IITOTS seve k se ie a ey ee a eae ge ge 3,086 Notal sent: to hospitals, 2.2 22a Seco Ss 637 3,723 1922 Total arrests and commitments to correctional 1923 Total arrests and commitments to correctional PN CGIUUGIATS 7s ee ee a ke ena 2,663 Total sent to hospitals ........_.___ ae ek ees 497 3,160 1924 to July 1st—Total arrests and commitments to cor- rectional institutions ~--..---..-_- 1,513 Total sent to hospitals ~.-........-___ 123 = 1,686 Grand Total STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 11 °All addicts applying for treatment at any of the public departments of New York City or to the courts are referred to the Narcotic Drug division for investigation. Selected addicts with no criminal] history are sent to the Metropolitan Hospital for treatment, and others with a crim- inal history were sent (up to August, 1924) to the Kings County Hospital. All others are regularly committed and transferred to the Workhouse for men on: Riker’s Island or the Workhouse for women and Correctional Hospital on Welfare Island, except a comparatively small number of women committed to the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills. Hospital conditions are not satisfactory. Bellevue and Allied Hos- pitals do not receive addicts except some self-committed women on the way to Bedford Reformatory. The Metropolitan does not have legal custody and is not supplied with attendants and equipment to handle troublesome cases. Many of the addicts walk out before termination of their treatment. Most of the addicts sent to the Kings County Hospital were held until discharged. The Department of Public Welfare reports that 254 were received in 1922, 398 in 1923, and 148 up to July 1, 1924, The treatment of drug addiction has been discontinued since August, 1924, _leaving the Metropolitan Hospital the only public hospital to which ad- dicts are sent in New York City. The following statistics of self- ecmbatna addicts were furnished by the Magistrates’ Court: MEN WOMEN TOTAL a a ca 582 90 672 ei ed a ee a ee 496 80 576 Ot ei Sale AGb oo cee unc . 315 55 370 1,398 225 1,618 The Court of Special Sessions is the barometer of the extent of the use, sale and possesion of the drugs by the underworld. All prosecutions of drug offenses under the Sanitary Code are brought there. Drug addic- tion cases constituted in 1921—17.8%; 1922—19.5%; 1923—16.3%; and up to July 1, 1924—17.04% of the entire business of the court. The following table, furnished by the Chief Judge of the Court, shows the number of convictions under the various State laws and the Sanitary Code up to July 1, 1924: Boylan Law 1st & 2nd Whitney Law 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 =: 1921 1921 1415 1503 1686 to 5/13 after 5/18 1288 540 846 1266 599 1190 Sanitary Code 1922 1923 1924 to 7/1 2211 1926 955 12 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE The average percentage of males convicted up to 1921 was 83.2, fe- males 16.8. During 1921, males 91.9, females 8.1. During 1922, males 90.5, females 9.5. During 1923, males 88.06, females 11.94. During 1924 “up to July Ist, males 85.75, females 14.25, & _ The following table of ages, prepared by Judges Cornelius F. Collins, igs taken from his. report to the State Conferrence of Magistrates: Year Age Percentage Percentage 21 Percentage (Average) yrs. and under under 21 yrs. I ile hc eee oe 48.12 28.27 18.91 ie 24 §4.29 wee ee 26 54.6 20.1 12.3 27 57. Lie Seas 25 BO Ae 16.2 10.5 26 54.15 Berghe’. Beaks 26 51.7 12.6 6.5 ‘ae 56.1 ; Woe soo bade S2 25 46.5 17.8 8.2 26 53.5 TR en ie 26 44.8 12.32 6.16 8 aa 29 50.5 8.2 AT No compilation of ages and percentages was made during 1923. An examination of above statistics shows that the number of addicts prosecuted materilly decreased under the Whitney acts and increased under\ the enforcement of the provisions of the Sanitary Code; that the number of female addicts which decreased about one-half in 1921 and 1922 have gone back in 1923 and the first half of 1924 almost to the high percentage before 1921; and that the average age of the underworld ad- dicts has been gradually rising to 1923 and the percentage of the young addicts of the age of 21 and under materially falling. It DRUG ADDICTS IN PENAL AND CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS Many drug addicts are inmates of penal and correctional institutions. Most of them are committed for crimes and offenses relating to the use and sale of drugs under the Sanitary Code of New York City, or are con- victed under the Harrison Act, or some other United States statute, and sentenced by Federal judges to state or county institutions. __A large number of addicts are sentenced to prisons for commission of crimes which have no connection in law with drugs. Denizens of the underworld and delinquents are addicted to. drugs to a greater extent than other persons, due to their reckless and indulgent lives and abnormal and subnorma] personalities. 2 STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 13 STATE PRISONS, REFORMATORIES AND COUNTY INSTITUTIONS A large proportion of the drug addicts sentenced to Sing Sing and Auburn are transferred to Clinton Prison, which is in the Adirondack mountains far removed from centers of population, and the inmates have less outside contacts than in “the other prisons. The following table shows the number of drug addicts received in Auburn, Clinton and Sing Sing prisons and their percentage to the total ad- missions to each institution, so far as the records are available, since June 30, 1916. As admissions and not commitments are given, the addicts in Clinton Prison transferred from Auburn and Sing Sing prisons are counted twice and their percentage duplicated in the Clinton figures. A compara- tively small number of addicts are committed from Clinton district each year: AUBURN CLINTON Year Ending Admissions Addicts % Admissions Addicts % June 36th 4 Me Tessie Ose 671 Gi 559 as TOTOHee ES es 827 4+ 167 * 1919 .. Oka 509 10+ 599 ey TOLD ie icnauk sales 685 6t 672 2 TOT cs v4 as « Seay 675 27—4.0 344 88—10.4 BGR algo a4 anes 999 23—2.3 936 79— 8.4 DEAR nha. 5 ctdie 546 27—4.9 738. 66— 9.0 WORE nv. eve neeese 671 21—3.1 917 86— 9.4 SING SING AUBURN—WOMEN TOTAL Year ending. : June 30th Admissions Addicts % Admissions Addicts % Adm. Ade. TIGET a ee AgeL ae 0.4 29 2* 69 2330 6 TA cetera 1197 11* 0.9 37 2828 86-15 1919 7788.3 ~ 1078. 16* 1.5 34 : 2215 «26 1920 ...... 1490 33* 2.2 42 : 2889 © 89 1928: Sh adsigencteey ced 93* 6.6 85 1* 2.9 2968 209 1988 cn a 132* 8.2 40 2* 5.0 $588 2386 ¥929 SEES. 1118 70* 6.3 40 3* 1.5 2437 «166 Lopdsyr Sa. 1880 33* 6.6 31 2949-195 + Discharged prisoners: listed as addicts. * Addicts listed in hospital. Great Meadow is a transfer prison solely, Addicts are rarely eae ferred to it and statistics are not kept. Ro ee The gradual. reduction method, with special. treatment, ‘is used. fa Auburn Prison for men. and women. The complete withdrawal method except in extreme cases requiring medical treatment, is used. din Clinton, Sing Sing and Great Meadow prisons, _ ae iM as REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE The New York State Reformatory at Elmira is the only State reform- _atory for adult males. Males between the ages of 16 and 30, convicted of felony and a small number convicted of misdemeanor, are committed under an indeterminate sentence. Returned prisoners are those brought back for violation of parole. United States prisoners are committed by Federal courts under a definite sentence. The following comparative statement of drug addicts in proportion te the population was furnished by the Superintendent of the Reformatory : 1914 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 New Men -.---- eae toe 1,223 603 617 750 681 710 801 560 Returned Men _-.------ -101 99 88 %6 62 58 129 120 Definite Men (U. S.) -- 6 2 21 23 13 2 2 5 Drug Addicts—New -—- we we a ae ae AY 1 4 Drug Addicts—Ret. __- 19 38 39 26 15 20 17 14 Drug Addicts—Def. __- 5 10 6 12 6 4 4 8 Total Population ..--. 1,330 704 726 849 756 770 982 685 Total Drug Addicts --. 24 48 47 38 21 24 22 26 Percentage of Drug Ad- GiGts capresso 1.804 6.81 6473 4.475 2.777 3.116 2.86 3.80 The complete withrawal method of treatment is used. The New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills and the Albion State Training School at Albion are reformatories for women between the ages of 16 and 30, convicted mostly of sex and minor offenses. An arrangement was made in 1920 to commit selected self-committed drug addicts from New York City for 100 days to the Bedford Reformatory. As complete withdrawal treatment is practiced, some extreme cases were accepted at Bellevue Hospital for a short time on the road to Bedford. The self-committed women are kept in the hospital for two weeks and mingled with the other inmates for the balance of the hundred days. The Reformatory reports that the self-committed cases were in 1921—51; 1922—30 ; 1923—28; and for the six months up to July 1, 1924—16. Records of drug addicts were not preserved at the Albion State Training school. The management reports “during the past year we had about five cases; during 1922-1923 one case.” The gradual reduction method with additional treatment is in use. The county penitentiaries outside of New York City are Albany, Erie, Monroe, Onondaga and Westchester. Statistics of drug addicts are not taken; the complete ‘withdrawal method, except in Onondaga County Pen- itentiary, is used. All of the institutions have hospital rooms in which the worst cases receive attention. Occasionally, when a patient is vio- lently or dangerously ill the doctor administers the drug. Addicts committed to the 57 county jails outside of New York City, either under: detention er sentence, receive the same treatment and diet as the other prisoners. The complete withdrawal: method, with a few ‘STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS Bb exceptions, is used. Jail doctors are paid small compensation and do not feel that they should furnish the drug or spend much time on addicts. County jails have limited, and some of them have no hospital rooms. The addict in the county jail is a pitiable object unless he receives the drug from the outside. His food is distasteful and he rarely has the physical. exercise in the open which he sorely needs. ae Are NEW YORK CITY INSTITUTIONS The penal and correctional institutions of New York City consist of the Penitentiary on Welfare Island, the Workhouse and Correction..Hos- pital for women on Welfare Island, the Municipal Farm on Riker’s Island, the Reformatory Prison on Hart’s Island, The New York City Reformatory for male misdemeanants at New Hampton, and the Women’s Farm Col- ony at Greycourt. The Penitentiary functions as a clearing house for all adult sentenced . Imales. They are taken to it in the first instance and transferred to the institution for which they are considered best fitted. The Correction Hospital acts as a clearing house for all adult sentenced females. The Municipal Farm at Riker’s Island is set apart exclusively for the confinement and treatment of male drug addicts. Female drug addicts are treated and confined in the Correction Hospital and Workhouse. Drug addicts passing through the clearing houses are of three gen- eral classes: Those who are committed under the Sanitary Code for the illegal use, possession or sale of the drugs; those who are convicted of other crimes; and those who have committed no crime but are self-com- mitted under the Sanitary Code. Riker’s Island in the Hast River, originally 68 acres, has been en- larged by the dumpings and refuse of the city to 350 acres.: Everything about it is raw and uncouth. It is primarily a poorly equipped prison. The inmates are housed in wooden dormitories; one of the dormitories is called a hospital. A former Commissioner of Correction described the buildings, which have not since been improved, as “hopelessly crude, in- adequate, objectionable and unsafe”. Offenders steeped in crime, addict drug peddlers, self-committed ad- dicts who have committed no crimes, young and old, the bad and the good, are all commingled together. The population ranges from three hundred to four hundred. All of these inmates suffering from a disease needing specialized treatment have the services of only one doctor and no civilian nurse. The treatment is necessarily en masse. The gradual reduction method is given by injections over six days. The addicts remain about twelve days in the hospital and are then transferred to the general dormitories, ‘Women drug addicts are assigned to the Correction Hospital—a new name for the ancient Workhouse on Welfare Island. The south wing. continues to be the workhouse for women; the north wing, formerly the workhouse for men, has been made over into a hospital. The wards are pleasant and incomparably superior to the accommodations for meh on- 16 ‘REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE Riker’s Island. The treatment ‘is en masse, similar to that given on Riker’s Island. The inmates. receive injections gradually reduced over seven days; they are permitted to convalesce in the hospital for about seven days more and are then transferred to the workhouse Rechion and commingled with the workhouse inmates, The self-committed or non-criminal addict, is treated the same as the criminal addict. The mingling of the various classes of women is abominable, To illustrate the character of the associations, 595 women, consecu- tively committed to the Workhouse early in 1923, were convicted of the _ following offenses: Two hundred twenty prostitution, 103 intoxica- ‘tion, 100 drug addiction, 58 disorderly conduct, 44 petty larceny, 43 vag- rancy, 12 miscellaneous, 9 violation of parole, 6, grand larceny. One hundred forty-five had served previous sentences of from two to four times; 94 from five to ten times; 57 from eleven to twenty times; 31 from ‘twenty-one to fifty-one times; over 60% had venereal diseases, Any decent woman applying for treatment of drug addiction afin ' one hundred days of seeping in this mess must become thoroughly con- taminated and degraded. If there be any force in the argument that self respect and moral fibre are necessary to strengthen the will to resist future desire and temptation for the drug, this treatment of the self- committed defeats its purpose. Self-respect and moral fibre must be de- _ stroyed. Of course these women invariably return to the drug. Male addicts who are convicted of crimes after a period on Riker's Island are transferred to Hart’s Island. The self-committed addicts re- main the hundred days on Riker’s Island. About forty per cent of. the inmates on Hart’s Island are drug addicts. Addicts suffering from tuber- culosis are transferred to Hart’s Island in the first instance. When treatment is necessary addicts receive the gradual reduction method or, as the doctor prefers to call it,—the rapid reduction method over a per- iod of five days by mouth instead of by injection. Drug addicts are not transferred to the Reformatory for young mis- demeanants at New Hampton or the Women’s Farm Colony at Grey- court. Young addicts are sent to Riker’s Island and later transferred to Hart’s Island. The City Prison, Manhattan, otherwise known as the “Tombs”, re- ceives, including repeaters, about two thousand drug addicts each year. rigoners held for the higher criminal courts and Special Sessions Court who do not give bail, are detained in it. They are all segregated in a speci- al section of the prison which has no hospital accommodations. The doc- tor administers the gradual reduction treatment by mouth to prisoners in their cells, giving to each addict as much individual treatment as his time will permit. The average age of drug addicts charged with felony re- No ceived from September 15th to October 21, ee was 30-3/4 years. previous record has been kept. STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 47 The following data and statistical tables are taken from statis- tical tables and statements presented’ by the New York City Department of Correction at the hearing before the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives on the Porter heroin bill, April 3, 1924, and from statistics received from the wardens of the institutions. During the year 1923, 2663 drug addicts were committed to the correctional institutions of New York City; 1292 were classified as work- house prisoners and 351 penitentiary prisoners convicted under the Sani- tary Code. The balance were convicted of other crimes and criminal offenses. All of the 1292 were transferred to Riker’s Island and the Correction Hospital. In addition to the 2663 there were a large number of addicts who were convicted of felonies and misdemeanors and sen- tenced to State institutions, and United States prisoners convicted in the Federal courts, The 1292 (10938 men and 199 women) convicted under section 133 of the Sanitary Code (possessing and selling) and committed under sec- tion 135 (self committed for treatment) had records as follows: MEN WOMEN TOTAL TOTAL Treated Sec. 135 Sec. 133 Sec. 135 See. 133 Sec. 135-133 Sec. 133-135 1st time --. 101 235 19+ p< 082 ou: 114 426F 381 Qnd time _-- 70 164 8 28 73 192 270 8rd time -..-. 61 120 8 20 69 140 209 4th time -... 37 aT 7 11 44 88 132 Sth time --_- 30 48 5 12 35 60 95 6th time —_~- 27 39 4 15 oat 85 7th time —... 15 17 3 y 1$<-. 2h 42, 8th time —_.. 1 10 2 8 Aer ae 81 9th time -_-- 1 7 1 3 O2... 20 22 10th time —_-- ge 1 2 a 5 1 6 lith time -_.. a 3 1 ‘i Se 6 12th time --.. 3 = cS 1 3 3 8 13th time --... oe aa a 1 1 1 2 14th time --.. =~ Se m. 1 ba 1 ic 15th time —-..: bis eS 1 1 1 1 2 18th time --.. aie ane 1 oy Boa: | 20th time -.-. a ee aes 1 os 1 1 Total 370 723 BT 142 427 865 1292 ' Repeat (per cent) 75 68 IT W1 %3 69 1 18 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE The 427 self-committed persons (370 men and 57 women) had the following records: No. times treatments No. receiving No. having pre- No. having pre- _ were received treatment vious record vious record for for possessing offenses other and selling than drug offenses Ist times so. --— 210 115 7 Ong tmMe 22...--- 114 40 29 8rd time --.------ 48 6 23 Stiietunen s25--o3- 381 9 13 5th time -------- 10 5 5 Gtlistimie bosclsek- 9 1 5 White. -222esee 5 int ga 8th time -------- ee oe 10 9th time --.------ we ie 1 12th time --.------ es Pa 1 18th time -------- we o 1 16th time -------- mies th 1 Patel Gewsses- = 427 176 167 The 865 persons convicted of possessing and selling (723 men and 142 women) had the following records : No. having pre- wious record for No. of times No. having pre- offenses other Commitied No. Committed vious treatments than drug offenses ist time =---.--- 484 185 151 2nd time 2i.--4s2 - 282 57 79 8rd time -.------ 96 13 32 4th time --.------ 30 3 32 5th time -------- 19 1 13 6th time -------- 2 1 11 StH time =.---s-= 1 pes 3 8th time -------- 22 ae 2 9th time -------- 1 ee re Wth time -------.- a a 1 12th time ...---- ‘. ae it 1 14th time --.---.--- as Bias 1 19th time -------- as ae 1 otal Skscoses 865 260 827 The following drug addicts were received at Riker’s Island from Jan- uary 1 to July 1, 1924, all males: _Self-committed without previous record | .-----------+. 68 Self-committed with previous drug record ---------- 91 Self-committed with previous criminal record =-.---._ 108 — 27 Number admitted for definite sentence ---~-------------- 381 Number admitted for indefinite sentence --..-------------- 240 STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS . The average ages were as follows: Self-committed 34 years 8 months. Definite sentences 80 years 5 months. Indefinite sentences 31 years 7 months. The following drug addicts were received at the Correctional Hos- pital and Workhouse from January 1 to July 1, 1924, all females: Self-committed without previous record ~---------_-----__. 6 Self-committed with previous drug record ~-----_-----._- 35 Self committed with previous criminal] record ~....----~- 35 Number of addicts committed on definite sentence -.--.._. 93 Number of addicts committed on indefinite sentence ...._.-. 7 | 176 The average ages were as follows: Selfacommitted': 22s e a We a eee ee eo tce yrs. 33 Nentenced: MdGlCts 4 252 SWS See ee yrs. 32 The above statistics do not indicate constructive results. The best that can be said is that a large number of drug addicts and drug peddlers are temporarily removed from the community and that the majority of them keep coming back to the institutions again and again in a sort of endless chain. They also show that many of the self-committed have no previous criminal record; and that the average ages of addicts received at Riker’s Island and the Correction Hospital from January 1, 1924 to July 1, 1924, were higher than the last report of the Court of Special Sessions in 1922. DRUG SMUGGLING IN PENAL AND CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS The smuggling of drugs into prisons was at one time a common prac- tice; numerous inmates became addicted in the prisons. The inmate drug peddler was a recognized type; drugs were brought in and attempts were made to bring them in by every conceivable trick ; the most common way was through dishonest employees, _ The harsh conditions of the old prison system created a desire for drugs to relieve monotony and suffering. Drugs found their way into prisons in proportion to the insanitary housing and repressive manage- ment of the institution. The improvement in sanitary conditions, excercise, recreation and humane management has diminished smuggling. A com- munity or public sentiment is developing in some of the institutions which is operating to make inmate drug peddling offensive and even unsafe. All the State prisons and reformatories report qa minimum of smug- gling; little evidence of it could be found. While the opportunity exists . ag in the past, it has certainly diminished, The transfer of drug addicts \ to Clinton Prison has been a material factor in discouraging it. The situation is somewhat different in New York City. The instil. tutions are close to the drug traffic and to friends and associates. Rumors 20 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE and stories of extensive smuggling are current which are not verified. Management is doing its utmost to suppress smuggling; when discovered severe punishments are imposed. Reports of management are that the institutions were never so free from drugs as at present. The supervision exercised over county penitentiaries is not as strict as over the State and New York City institutions. The number of addicts * eonfined is comparatively small, and if smuggling exists it is well con- cealed. It is said that county jails are sieves for drugs and that any addict with money can procure them. No proofs of these statements have been furnished and it does not appear upon our inspections. The free and easy methods in many of the jails may permit smuggling if worth while. Jails in rural districts are removed from centers of the drug traffic and the inmates have not the money nor are of the kind to attract smugglers or receive gratuities. IV RELATION OF DRUG ADDICTION TO CRIME Drug addiction under some conditions contributes materially to crime. Aside from convictions for violation of the Sanitary Oode of New York City and of the Federal statutes it is the responsible cause of the com- mission of many serious crimes. Dic statement that every drug addict is a potential criminal is ‘not _/ Every drug addict who is unable to buy or secure the drug, howerer, is a potential criminal because of his suffering. Many addicts who are able to obtain the drug and control the dosage live respectable and useful lives. The addict who has no money to buy, or who cannot secure the drug, becomes a menace to society. Addict after addict interviewed in the State prisons and jails said that they committed highway robbery, burglary, forgery and larceny so they could obtain the drug. Women sell themselves into prostitution or white slavery to insure the steady supply of the drug. Procurers, keepers of disorderly houses and white slavers deliberately seek to secure such vontrol. The records of 237 drug addicts convicted of felonies and sentenced to the State prisons were examined at Clinton prison in September, 1924 ; they were all committed, with a few exceptions, since January 1, 1921. Do their offenses reflect the effect of drug deprivation in contributing to the more serious crimes during the past four years? The following tables prepared from the prison records give their erimes classified as involving the person or property, the number of their previous convictions, their color, age at time of commitment, the prisons to which they were originally committed, the total of each crime group, percentages computed by crime group and percentage of previous convic- tions, and ages in groups under 21 years; 21 to 30 years; 31 to 40 years; and over 40: years. SHOWING CRIMES FOR WHICH THE DPEUG ADDICTS WERE CONVICTED Auburn Fo Clinton % Sing Sing %o Total 9% by Crimes Against Persons Gr. Gr. Gr. Growps Assault 1st. degree —--.-2.0.-.-----. ee 4. 4 Assault 2nd degree -_...-....------ oa 4 8 12 Att. Assault 2nd degree ~.....____-- igs 4 12.5 1 13 71 tice alt 7.2 Bipamy and Perjury a0 se Pe wt 1 1 0.5 1 1 0.4 Manslaughter 1st degree ~.-.------_ Rie 2 4 4 Manslaughter 2nd degree ~_....-.--_ oe a 2 2 Murder h2ad-dépree> 2.22 ee ol 8 9 4.9 te 9 3.8 Rape nd "degrees «= Sas ee re ie 1 3.1 a 1 1 0.4 Misike lenin: Pere woe eee te 22 5 15.7 23 12.6 28 11.8 Crimes Involving Property ecRegie: Seb tere oe So = 1 1 3.1 oe 1 1 0.4, Burélary ist desrée Cl... iu a 2 2 Burglary 2nd degree ~_..----------.- ie ie 2 2 Burglary 8rd degree ~.-..._---_- ._ 5 2 29 36 Burglary 3rd degree G. L, 1st __-...- 1 oe oe: 1 Burglary 8rd degree G. L. 2nd —--_- 1 3 ate 4, Burglary 3rd degree G. L. 8rd ----.- 1 ate 1 2 i Burglary 3rd degree Pet. L. ~------_ ae 36.3 2 q 21.9 135 19.1 38 50 21.1 Att, Burglary 1st degree __-__---__- aes te 1 1 Att. Burglary 2nd degree __.---__-._ 1 ue 1 2 Adi. Bursiary ardcdepree _- 22 2 1 9.1 name = 22 12.0 21>. 224 10.1 SNOSIUd tO NOISSINWOO @LVLS SHOWING CRIMES FOR Table Continued WHICH THE DRUG ADDICTS WERE CONVICTED Auburn % Clinton % Sing Sing % Total % by Gr. fois. eg Groups Forgery 2nd degree -...-.----------.. 1 2 1 4 Forgery 3rd degree ..--.----------- eal iat 1 1 Att. Forgery 2nd degree -------~--- Saeed 4.5 ee 2 6.2 1 3 1.6 1 6 2.5 Grand Larceny ist degree ~~... ---_- 1 3 8 12 Grand Larceny 2nd degree __.. ....- 6 24 31 Att. Grand Larceny -....-----..----- ro 9.1 ae 9 28.1 20 =3=-52 28.4 20 «68 26.6 Receiving Stolen Property Ist ------ to 4.5 ae Lag 1 1 0.4, Robbery 1st degree ~....-.--------- 3 5 15 23 Robbery 1st and Grand Larceny __-. at, 1 +6 1 Robbery 2nd degree -----.---------- 1. 1 < 9 Robbery srd degree -.-..-.. . ; 1 6 8 Att. Robbery 1st degree ___--~~_~..-- a oe 2 z i Att. Robbery 3rd degree ------------ 1 27.3 oe 8 23.0 z 30] 16.4 1 44 18.6 Att. Forgery and Bigamy ------~--- 1 oe £ tp -1 Burglary Ist & Assault ist ------- 2S 4.5 a t 1 0.5 1 2 0.8 SBipah abe 2s pestis gaia. igen ae 21 | 95.5 27 84.3 143 78.1 191 80.6 Miscellaneous Crimes Carrying concealed weapons -.----- 1 1 4.5 14 14 7.6 5b 15 6.3 Possessing burglar’s tools .-----..--- bes 2 2 11 2 oe 0.8 Aiding an escape ------..--------~--- =a i 1 0.5 1 if. 0.4 Rotary “2 ose te a 1 4.5 17 9.3 18 7.6 Gro Lermle oe ee 22 82 183 237 HHELINWNOO TVIONdS AO LYOdEY GG STATE COMMISSION OF PRISONS 23 SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS Auburn % Clinton % Sing Sing % Total % Gr. Gr. Gr. Gr. 1 Previous conviction ..... 3 13.6 12 87.5 39 21.3 54 22.3 2 to 5 pre. convictions ...... 10 45.4 9 28.1 96 52.5 | 115 43.5 More than 5 pre. con. ...... : 1 4.5 1 3.1 13 1.1 15 6.8 FROGS «Gots ; atau tent. 5 Wie Ne 14 63.6 22 68.8 148 80.9 |. 184 77.6 Showing Color Black hr neato cise etecnist! Tita eis 2 9.1 2 28.1.) 22 12.0 33 13.9 Wie “OOF, Poteet 20 90.9 23 71.9 | 161 88.0 | 204 86.1 POH io as, ge carder te 22 32 183 237 SHOWING THE AGE OF DRUG ADDICTS, WHEN COMMITTED Age Auburn % Clinton % Sing Sing % Total % by Age Groups 13 ae 2 2 19 1 1 2 Under 21 yrs... 20 0.0 168) 4 3.8 5-9 3.8. 21 1 1 6 8 22 wa 2 8 10 23 at sx i 11 24 Sa 2 14 16 21 to 30 25 4 el 9 14 inclusive 26 1 2 12 15 27 ae 2 15 17 28 2 1 17 20 29 z : a = ‘30 2 50.0 4 50.0 6 58.5 12-184 56.6 31 os 2 q 9 82 1 Ke 8 9 83 1 f 9 10 31 to 40 34 oi 3 4 qT. inclusive 35 iE oT q 9 A 86 ie it 6 7 37 £ 1 2 8 38 v 2 1 4 39 ** ert 6 6 40 8 31.8 31.8 1 27.9 4-68 28.7 4t 1 1 di 3 42 1 a 5 6 3 2h oie 2 2 44 cs 1 1 2 45 ate s I 1 Over 40 yra. 46 Bi ot 2 2 aT 1 1 2 4 48 te Pe 1 1 49 Aa oe ee we 50 1 af : 1 2 51 ie ag 1 a 52 18.2 2.65 1 9.8 2-26 10.9 Grand ‘Total 22 32 183 287 100 ae, i, Pei i Rese Serene 24 : REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE (: Aimong the condemned murderers who have been committed to the \ death cells in Sing Sing Prison during the years that all condemned pris- oners in the State have been sent there, Dr. Amos QO. Squire reports only one known drug addict. Bleven drug addicts were inmates of Elmira Reformatory in Septem- ber, 1924; they were convicted of the following crimes: Robbery 2nd degree, 2: burglary 2nd degree, 1; burglary 3rd degree, 1; grand larcen , 2nd degree, 2; attempt forgery 3rd degree, 1; attempt burglary 3rd degree , 1; attempt forgery 2nd degree, 1; possessing burglary tools, 1; unlawft possession of drugs, 1. An analysis of the above statistics shows that crimes and attempt to’ commit crimes involving property; namely,—burglary, grand larceny ‘robbery and forgery—constitute 80.1% of the crimes tabulated. If th related crimes of possessing burglary tools and concealed weapons wert added, they make 87.2% of the total. One hundred per cent. of the drug addicts in Elmira Reformatory committed or attempted to commit rob- bery, burglary, larceny, forgery and possessing burglary tools and drugs. The statistics further show that crimes against the person which do not involve property are not aS numerous as sometimes reported and that -manrder is rarely committed under the influence of the drug. From the nature of the crimes it can be reasonably deduced that a Jarge proportion of the crimes were committed by the addicts for the purpose of securing means to buy the drug of their addiction and, assum- ing that some of the addicts were felons before they became addicts, that the suffering caused by deprivation of the drug increased their criminal ‘\ activities. The number of attempted crimes (50 out of 237) indicates that ad- dicts physically debilitated or in the grip of withdrawal suffering proceed in a blind and futile way to commit crime. Some of the attempts de- seribed by addicts interviewed were absurd. The table of ages shows that the addicts were relatively sian when they committed their crimes; 56.6% were between 21 and 30 and 28:7% between 30 and 40 years of age. As most of them, however, were recid- ivists, their addiction and criminal careers must have begun at an earlier age.