The New York Times March 15, 1911
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SALES OF HYPODERMIC NEEDLES

It is not pleasant to be told, as Mr. Hamilton Wright, Federal Opium Commissioner, has told us, that "Uncle Same is the worst drug fiend in the world," consuming yearly more opium than China or any other nation. The United States uses 500,000 pounds annually in one form or another, a hundredfold more than prescribed by physicians. Mr. Wright judges that "at least one druggist out of every ten exists by means of profits from the sale of habit­forming drugs, of which, of course, opium and its derivatives are most important."

That is why we fear that Assemblyman Boylan's bill, No. 983, to amend the Public Health law with respect to the sale of hypodermic syringes and needles, will not pass. It provides that none of these instruments for the injection of opiates shall be disposed of at retail without the written order of a duly licensed physician or veterinarian, and that each sale shall be registered with the name and address of the buyer. We hope that the bill will survive the powerful, but secret opposition that it will meet in the Legislature.